World badminton: Organisers promise to be on guard after Indian Open fiasco
PV Sindhu, former champion and most decorated Indian player at Worlds, handed tough draw
A makeover of the Indira Gandhi Stadium worth ‘’nearly Rs 20 crore’’, challengers like a resurgent ninth seed P.V. Sindhu, 14th seed Lakshya Sen and fifth seed Satwik-Chirag give hosts India a lot to look forward to at the BWF World Badminton Championships in the capital. The marquee event will be held from 17-23 August — 17 years after Hyderabad hosted it for the first time in 2009.
Back then, a young Saina Nehwal had just announced her arrival with a quarter-final appearance at the Beijing Olympics, and a gangly Sindhu was still unheard of. Ever since, India has witnessed a badminton revolution of sorts with three Olympic medals, producing a world champion in Sindhu and winning the Thomas Cup in 2022 among other feats. Sindhu, incidentally, is the most decorated Indian player in the history of the Worlds — having bagged two back-to-back silver in 2017 and 2018 before winning gold the next year.
Dhruv Kapila and Olympian Tanisha Crasto are the 15th seed in mixed doubles apart from Sindhu, Lakshya and the Sat-Chi combination. India will have two entries in each of the five disciplines at the home world championships, with at least one seeded contender in four of them.
Lakshya will spearhead men’s singles campaign alongside Ayush Shetty, while rising youngster Unnati Hooda joins Sindhu in the women’s singles draw. In men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun will accompany Satwik and Chirag. Gayatri Gopichand and Teresa Jolly will lead India’s women’s doubles challenge alongside Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi.
Apart from Kapila and Crasto, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will represent India in mixed doubles.
The draw ceremony, however, revealed on Wednesday that it will be tough going for the Indian seeds. Sindhu has been cast in the same group as world no. 1 An Se Young and may run into her in the semi-finals should she get past China’s Wang Zhi Yi in the round of 16, in a match that promises to be one of the standout contests in the early rounds.
The luck of the draw, meanwhile, was cruel on young Ayush as he has been drawn against the top seed and reigning world champion Shi Yuqi of China in the round of 64. Shi enters as hot favourite to retain the title and has been one of the most dominant players in men’s singles over the past few seasons.
There was a major source of embarrassment in January this year when the same venue was hosting the Indian Open — with complaints about poor air quality, lack of cleanliness and a stray incident of a monkey appearing in the stands to interrupt proceedings. Danish shuttler Mia Blichfeldt withdraw from the tournament and was particularly vocal about the shortcomings before international media.
Fielding the question in mid-July, Badminton Federation of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra tried to allay fears: ‘’We have rectified the issues that were there. We have put two more doors in addition to the main door so that no stray animals can enter the arena. The ceilings have been changed. The toilets will be of the highest standard. Cleanliness will not be an issue.’’
Speaking at the draw ceremony, the BFI official said nearly Rs 20 crore have been pumped in for a complete makeover of the stadium, which includes a state-of-the-art lighting facility among other things.