Lakshya Sen, Ajay Jayaram, Aakarshi Kashyap get seedings in Dutch Open Badminton 

Lakshya Sen, Ajay Jayaram and Aakarshi Kashyap received seedings in the Dutch Open International Challenge badminton tournament. The five-day tournament will be held from October 13 to 17 in Almere, Netherlands.

Lakshya Sen has been given the top seeding in the men’s singles. World No. 25 Lakshya, who is not part of the Indian squad in the Thomas and Uber Cup, would like to prove a point or two with a brilliant performance in Almere.

20-year-old Lakshya is determined to make amends for his non-selection in the Indian squad for the Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup.

Lakshya will take on Portugal’s Bernardo Atilano in the first round on Thursday. It will be Lakshya’s first meeting with Atilano, ranked 127 in the world.

Ajay Jayaram will be the seventh seed in the men’s singles. Experienced shuttler Ajay, who has now slipped to world No. 61, will face Kalle Koljonen of Finland in the first round on Thursday. The 27-year-old Finnish player is ranked 66 in the world and has had some good results in the past. It will be a good test for the 34-year-old Ajay.

Seventh seed Ajay Jayaram will meet Kalle Koljonen of Finland in the first round on Thursday

Siril Verma and Rahul Yadav Chittaboina are also in the main draw. Both Siril and Rahul Yadav are in the bottom half of the 32-player draw. In-form Loh Kean Yew of Singapore is the second seed.

Winner of last month's Ukraine tournament, Priyanshu Rajawat and Aryamann Tandon will play in the qualifiers which will begin on Wednesday.

Aakarshi Kashyap gets eighth seeding in the women’s singles

Like Lakshya Sen, Aakarshi Kashyap also missed the selection criteria during the Indian team’s selection trials held early last month.

India No. 1 Aakarshi was expected to clinch a berth in the national squad for the Sudirman Cup and Uber Cup. But the Chhattisgarh shuttler could not earn her spot.

Eighth seed Aakarshi Kashyap will face a qualifier in the women's singles first round

20-year-old Aakarshi would like to do well in the Dutch Open to regain her confidence. Eighth seed Aakarshi will lock horns with a qualifier in the first round.

Ira Sharma is in the bottom half of the draw and will meet third seed Aliye Demirbag of Turkey in the first round.

There are several Indians in the qualifying rounds. Samiya Imad Farooqui, who won the Bulgarian Open Future Series a couple of days ago, would like to extend her dream run in the Dutch Open.

Keyura Mopati, Shruthika Senthil, Meenal Rautela, Likhita Srivastava, Ananya Praveen and Sivaranjani Sivakumar will try hard to make the cut for the main draw.

Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh will square off against Sachin Dias and Kavidi Sirimannage of Sri Lanka. It will be in a mixed doubles first round outing on Wednesday.