Thailand Open: Chirag-Satwik, HS Prannoy to spearhead Indian challenge

Bangkok [Thailand], May 13 : Top Indian shuttlers, including HS Prannoy, will be in action during the Thailand Open competition at Bangkok's Nimibutr Stadium from Tuesday onwards.

The fifth-seed Prannoy is currently India's highest-ranked singles shuttler. But despite his status as world number nine, he will be starting in the qualifiers.

Also, the world number 34 Kiran George has been drawn against world No. 17 Weng Hong Yang. Hong Yang, who was part of China's Thomas Cup winning team this year.

The semifinalist at last year's Thailand Open, Lakshya Sen has pulled out of the competition. The top men's doubles seeds of India, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, will be aiming to add to their Thailand Open title tally, getting their second title following a triumph in 2019, as per Olympics.com.

Satwik and Chirag last played in All England Open and faced a round-of-16 elimination earlier this year. But they had a fine year overall, securing the French Open title in March.

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu has also withdrawn from the tournament to focus on Paris Olympics 2024 preparation, set to take place from July 26 to August 11 this year. She had withdrawn from Uber Cup recently due to the same reason.

In her absence, young stars like Malvika Bansod, Ashmita Chaliha, Aakarshi Kashyap, Imad Farooqui Samiya and Unnati Hooda will be part of India's women's singles challenge. Aakarshi, ranked at the 40th spot, is the highest-ranked shuttler out of them all.

Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa are the fourth-seed in the women's doubles event and they will begin their Thailand Open campaign directly from the second round.

In the mixed doubles category, the Indian challenge will consist of SK Karunakaran- Aadya Variath and B Sumeeth Reddy-N Sikki Reddy combinations.

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Men's singles: HS Prannoy, Kiran George, SK Karunakaran, Meiraba Maisnam (Q), S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian (Q), Ayush Shetty (Q), Kartikey Gulshan Kumar (Q), Ravi (Q)

Women's singles: Malvika Bansod, Ashmita Chaliha, Imad Farooqui Samiya, Aakarshi Kashyap, Unnati Hooda, Nikki Rapria (Q)

Men's doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, Vimalraj Annadurai-Mayuran Kathiravan (Q)

Women's doubles: Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa, Palak Arora-Unnati Hooda, Nikki Rapria-Nishu Rapria, Rutaparna Panda-Swetaparna Panda

Mixed doubles: SK Karunakaran-Aadya Variath, B Sumeeth Reddy-N Sikki Reddy.

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