The India Open has always been a special tournament for Indian badminton players, and not just because it’s the biggest international tournament hosted in India.
Prakash Padukone, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Jwala Gutta and V Diju, Kidambi Srikanth, and Lakshya Sen have all been champions here. It’s where a 20-year-old Prannoy beat his childhood hero Taufik Hidayat and it’s where Sindhu got the better of Carolina Marin in the edition right after their 2016 Olympic final battle.
Last year, it was upgraded to a Super 750 from a Super 500, which means it is now a mandatory tournament for all the top-ranked players in the world. That means the draw automatically became tougher and there was no Indian champion in New Delhi with defending champions Satwik and Chirag withdrawing due to injury.
This time, though, things could be very different. For instance, Satwik and Chirag are coming of a scintillating final run at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 a week before. In the year of the Paris Olympics, a Super 750 at home at the start of the season is helpful in terms of both ranking points and crowd support.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen won his first big title there back in 2022, which launched what was a remarkable season for him with the Thomas Cup title, reaching the All-England Final, wins over Top 5 players and the Commonwealth Games gold. The 22-year-old hopes this can be the case once again in 2024.
“It gave me a lot of confidence. A few months before that, I had won a bronze medal at the World Championships but winning a tournament is a different feeling; that too my first 500,” Lakshya said on the sidelines of a press conference organized by the Badminton Association of India.
“I can go in with the confidence that I have done it before and I know what to expect. Playing this tournament at the start of the season is really amazing and I look forward to playing in Delhi in front of home fans,” he added.
Home fans can make a big difference for players. India doesn’t really have the same badminton fan culture some other countries in Asia do, but with the kind of performances the players are putting in, it’s slowly building up.
Lakshya recounts a memorable incident from last year: “Last year, I remember in my second-round match when I was playing Rasmus Gemke, the crowd didn’t stop supporting me even once. I was down in the game and playing miserably at the time, but still the fans were there shouting and cheering me. It’s good to have that feeling, to have the crowd backing me is special.”
For Prannoy, the upgrade to 750 means India’s badminton loving fan can watch the best at home. “To have this at the 750 stature is something very big for Indian badminton. For the fans, they can see a lot of top players very closely which you don’t get to see that often.”
It will take dedicated fans to come to the stadium even with free passes, though, as the temperature in Delhi stays in single digits.
In the practise hall and match courts, a host of international players are training with not much thought to winter wear. Many of them are feeling the biting winter of Delhi in January, answering with a smile when asked how they find the cold. But even in the peak of winter, the shuttles are flying hard and fast inside the courts with some of the practising players saying the conditions are good.
Prannoy, who was down with a flu at the season-opening Malaysia Open Super 1000 last week, says he is much fitter now and looking to winning the whole thing.
“India Open has always been special, I have been playing since 2012 so it’s almost 12 years playing in Delhi, and I have a lot of good memories associated with the India Open,” he said.
The first round, though, is against an opponent who is a bit too familiar, Chou Tien Chen, who he has a 5-7 record against. The Indian eighth seed acknowledged they have played a lot recently (7 times in the last 2 years) — he knows that it will be physically gruelling, and fitness (and faster legs) will be key.
If Prannoy wins that encounter, he will likely run into another familiar opponent – Lakshya, for the second straight year at India Open.
But first, Lakshya has another Indian to beat, Priyanshu Rajawat. “We have played each other a lot from the juniors and off court we are good friends and sometimes room partners as well. But on court we are professional and both of us are there to win and I am ready for a very good first-round encounter,” he said.
It’s a tough quarter with four Indians (Kiran George, promoted from reserves is the fourth) but if there is to be an Indian champion, it will likely be from this quarter. With so many all-Indian clashes in the offing, there’s something for the fans to cheer for.
The only downside for fans is the bunch of high-profile withdrawals such as world No 1 Viktor Axelsen and former Olympic and world champion Carolina Marin, both fan favourites in India. Former finalist Loh Kean Yew, last week’s Malaysia Open champion Anders Antonsen, doubles legends, the ‘Daddies’, Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, world No 1 and three-time world champions Chen Qing Chen / Jia Yi Fan are out as well.
The bright side for India, though, is that this means there will be some representation in women’s singles in the absence of the injured PV Sindhu as Aakarshi Kashyap has been promoted from reserves. She has a been dealt a tough hand though, drawing China’s second seed and Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in the opener.
In the doubles, all eyes will be on Sawtik and Chirag, whose media appearance on Monday had to be cancelled after they reached the Malaysia Open final on Sunday. The second seeds are in the kind of form that does not care about draws, with Danish fifth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen in their quarter and if the seedings hold, there is another blockbuster final against Chinese top seeds Liang and Wang on the cards.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto stunned the seventh seeds at the Malaysian Open last week while India Open also marks the start of the season for Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, setting the tone for what could be a race to the Paris Olympics between the two women’s doubles Indian pairs.
Another thing to watch out for will be surprise performances from other, lower-ranked Indians in the draw after several promotions from reserves.
All in all, the stage is set in a very cold New Delhi for Indian badminton stars to bring the big-game exploits they have made a reputation of at home.
