Kuala Lumpur, Aug 13 (IANS) Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will face a strong challenge in his opening round at the Badminton World Championships as he runs into top seed Chinese Shi Yu Qi, as the draws for the marquee event, scheduled to be held in Paris between August 25 and 31, were announced on Wednesday.

Shi has won three BWF World Tour Super 1000 titles this season, making him a strong contender for his first World Championships gold medal. The 2021 bronze medallist Sen, who placed fourth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games a year ago, could pose a stiff test for the top seed, given that he has a 1-3 head-to-head record against Shi, with their last match, at the Indonesia Open 2025 in June, going the distance.

At the bottom half of the men’s singles draw, a 2023 world championships bronze medallist, H.S. Prannoy, will begin his campaign against world No. 49 Joakim Oldorff from Finland with a potential second-round clash against second seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark.

Former champion and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is the sole Indian in the women’s section, will face world No. 66 and two-time European junior champion Kaloyana Nalbantova of Bulgaria in her opening round match and potentially face Malaysia’s Letshanaa Karupathevan in the second round. But the Indian ace could face a strong Test in the quarterfinal in the form of second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China.

India’s top doubles duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, are seeded 9th and received an opening round bye. The Indians would either play fellow Indians Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruben Kumar or Liu Kuang Heng and Yang Po Han of Chinese Taipei in the second round, with the quarterfinals match-up with the Paris Olympics bronze medallist, second-seeded Malaysians, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were the first Indian pair to win a medal in the men’s doubles event at the Badminton World Championships after settling for a bronze in Tokyo back in 2022.

The women’s doubles draw pitted Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda against Bulgaria’s Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva, while Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra will face French duo Margot Lambert and Camille Pognante in the first round.

In the mixed doubles, world No. 17 Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto received an opening-round bye. Another Indian mixed doubles pair, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde, will take on Ng Weng Chi and Leong Iok Chong of Macau.

India has won a total of 14 medals at the BWF World Championships — one gold, four silver, and nine bronze. Notably, India has won at least one medal at every World Championships since 2011.

–IANS

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