Sudirman Cup 2023: Prannoy, Sindhu to lead formidable Indian contingent at the tournament

Modified Apr 20, 2023 02:32 IST

PV Sindhu will represent India at the Sudirman Cup 2023

India have announced their continget for the Sudirman Cup 2023. The Indian contingent will be led by World No. 9 HS Prannoy and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, which will be held in Suzhou, China, from May 14 to 21.

The two singles players in the squad will be Kidambi Srikanth and Anupama Upadhyaya, the reigning senior national women's singles champion.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who missed the Asian Mixed Team event owing to injury, will rejoin the men's doubles team, while Ashwini Ponnappa and new partner Tanisha Castro will give backup to All England semi-finalists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly.

India have been placed in a difficult Group C alongside Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, and Australia, and their first goal will be to advance to the knock-out stage.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) selection committee chose a balanced squad with the goal of winning the first-ever medal in the Mixed Team Championships.

"The Sudirman Cup is a prestigious tournament, and the selectors chose the best squad based on domestic and international results. We are confident that this team will compete for a medal this year," BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra said.

The Indian men made history by winning the coveted Thomas Cup last year, and their chances of a podium finish were further boosted by their bronze-winning performance at the Asian Mixed Team Championships earlier this year.

In the current BWF world rankings, Indian shuttlers P. V. Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, H. S. Prannoy, and the doubles team Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty are rated among the Top-10.

P. V. Sindhu was the first Indian to win the badminton World Championship, which she did in 2019. She is also the only Indian badminton player to win two consecutive Olympic medals.

Jwala Gutta, India's most successful doubles player, is the only Indian to have been placed in the Top-10 in two categories. She was ranked sixth in mixed doubles with Valiyaveetil Diju and tenth in women's doubles with Ashwini Ponnappa.

Pullela Gopichand, Aparna Popat, Syed Modi, Nandu Natekar, Chetan Anand, Parupalli Kashyap, B. Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, and N. Sikki Reddy are among the other successful players.