In the absence of India's brightest shuttler PV Sindhu, the onus will be on the nation's top-ranked men’s singles badminton player HS Prannoy to keep the country's flag flying high at the Taipei Open 2023, the BWF Super 300 tournament, starting Tuesday.
Apart from Sindhu, India's highest-ranked men's double pair, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who created history by winning the Indonesia Open last week, have also excused themselves from participating in the tournament.
Saina Nehwal, a former Taipei Open champion, has also withdrawn from the tournament after initially confirming her participation. The former world No. 1 remains the only Indian to win the Taipei Open in 43 years as she bagged the women’s singles title in 2008.
However, Prannoy should look to win the title after having showcased excellent form this season. After emerging victorious at the Malaysia Masters BWF Super 500 in May, he followed it up with another last-four appearance in the Indonesia Open to enter the tournament in Taipei as the third seed. The world No. 9 is set to begin his campaign with a first-round match against one of the qualifiers.
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Joining the fray in the men's singles category is former top 10 player Parupalli Kashyap. The 2014 Commonwealth Games champion will look to improve his 120th position in the badminton rankings by going deep into the tournament after starting his journey from the qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth have also decided to skip the tournament. However, former junior world No. 1 S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Kiran George, Mithun Manjunath, will be competing.
In the women's singles category, Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth will enter directly from the main round.
Taipei Open 2023 badminton: Indian squad
Men’s singles: HS Prannoy, S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam, Kiran George, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Mithun Manjunath. Qualifiers: Parupalli Kashyap, Subhankar Dey
Women’s singles: Tanya Hemanth, Gadde Ruthvika Shivani, Aakarshi Kashyap
Men’s doubles: Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala
Women’s doubles: Rutaparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda
Mixed doubles: Bokka Navaneeth/Priya Konjenbam, Rohan Kapoor/N Sikki Reddy
How to watch Taipei Open 2023 badminton live in India?
The Taipei Open 2023 will be broadcast on the Sports 18-1 TV channel in India with live streaming available on Badminton World Federation’s official YouTube channel, BWF TV, and the Jio Cinema app.
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