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Paris, March 4
Former champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be hoping to be fourth time lucky after three successive runners-up finishes last year when they begin their campaign at the $850,000 French Open Super 750 starting here tomorrow.
Sai Praneeth retires
New Delhi: World Championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth today announced his retirement from international badminton, bringing down curtains on a successful career during which he won the Singapore Open and also represented India at the Tokyo Olympics. The 31-year-old from Hyderabad decided to hang his boots after battling nagging injuries since the Tokyo Games. Praneeth is set to join as the head coach of the Triangle Badminton Academy in the USA.
‘Satwik-Chirag the pair to beat in Paris’
It would be fair to say that as the world No. 1s today, they are a prospect to win at the highest level They are solid, whenever they step on the court, they are among the favourites. If I have to pick any one pair to beat at the Olympics, it will have to be Satwik and ChiragRs Pullela Gopichand, chief national coach
The world No. 1 Indian pair faltered at the finishing line thrice to sign off as the second-best at the 2023 China Masters Super 750 in November, Malaysia Open Super 1000 and India Open Super 750 events in January.
It will also be an opportunity for the top Indian shuttlers to get a feel of the conditions at the Adidas arena at Porte de la Chapelle which is set to be the venue for the Paris Olympics.
The top-seeded Indians, who won the French Open in 2022, have been the epitome of consistency in men’s doubles, which is considered to be highly competitive.
They are likely to make the weekends once again after opening their campaign against the Malaysian combination of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.
The event holds extra significance for PV Sindhu, who made a return to the circuit after four months at the Asia Team Championships in Malaysia. The world No. 11 Indian will open her campaign against Canada’s Michelle Li and a win is likely to put her across three-time former world champion and nemesis Carolina Marin of Spain, their first meeting since that ill-tempered match between the two in the Denmark Open semifinals.
In the men’s singles section, world No. 7 HS Prannoy will look to step up his game when he begins against China’s Lu Guang Zu.
In the Paris Olympics race, Lakshya Sen, who has slipped to world No. 19, will also have his task cut out when he takes on Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in the opening match.
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