DUBEY: As they begin their campaign in the main draw of the Asia Badminton Championships in Dubey on Wednesday, top Indian shuttlers, including double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, will try to establish their groove.
The 40th edition of the prestigious continental competition started here on Tuesday with the qualifying rounds, while the main draw comprising all the top players will happen only from Wednesday.It will be a tough task for India to return with a medal, considering most of the top players have been struggling with rhythm and form this season. India have so far won 17 medals at ABC with Dinesh Khanna claiming the lone gold in 1965 and the likes of Sindhu,
Prannoy and Lakshya will have to really play out of their skins to break the title drought. On a comeback trial after a long injury lay-off, Sindhu has shown some spark when she reached the finals of the Madrid Spain Masters and the 8th seeded Indian will hope to find her ‘A’ game when she begins her campaign against Taiwanese Wen Chi-hsu.
In men’s singles, world number 9 HS Prannoy has been consistent and he will look to gear up for the bigger battles with a good show in the opening round against Phone Pyae Naing of Myanmar, while 2021 world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth will take on Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahim. Former world number 6 Lakshya Sen has endured a difficult phase in 2023 as his ranking plummeted after a series of early exits, forcing the Indian to take a break.
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