Badminton: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen set to return to international action in Arctic Open Super 500

Hyderabad: Indian badminton players PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will be back in action on the international circuit after a disappointing outing at the Paris Olympics 2024 where the Indians failed to win a medal.

The duo are a part of the Indian contingent participating in the Arctic Open Super 500 tournament in Vantaa, Finland, that starts on October 8.

However, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Satiwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will not be in action as they have chosen to skip the tournament.

In the first round, Sindhu will meet Canada’s Michelle Li while Lakshya will lock horns with Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.

Sindhu, who lost in the round-of-16 at the Paris Olympics 2024, could next face 18-year-old Japanese sensation Tomako Miyazaki in the next round. Miyazaki is the 2022 junior world champion and has beat Sindhu in the Swiss Open this year.

Meanwhile, if Lakshya wins his first-round match over Gemke he could run into seventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the second round. Gemke had beat Lakshya in the India Open in 2023.

Other Indians – Kidambi Srikanth, Kiran George and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran – will hope to make it to the main draw after grinding it out in the qualifiers.

In fact, out of the three Indians in the qualifiers, only two of them can progress as Srikanth and George will battle it out in the qualifier. Sathish will play France’s Arnaud Merkle.

Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap will also be in action in the women’s singles category. Malvika, who had an outstanding run in the China Open Super 1000 tournament where she lost in the quarterfinals, will face world no. 24 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei in the first round. Aakarshi is scheduled to face Germany’s Yvonne Li in the opening round.

Unnati Hooda, who won the 2022 Odisha Masters, will come through the qualifiers route and will meet Israel’s Heli Neiman.

Rituparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda will pair up in the women’s doubles while Sathish and Aadya Variyath will play in the mixed doubles category.