India’s best shuttlers including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and men’s doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have withdrew from the forthcoming BWF Japan Open
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Tuesday that defending champion Axelsen, who just won his second gold medal at the Olympics, will be among the star attractions in the tournament amid massive pullouts from the tournament that will be the first major badminton event after the conclusion of the Paris Olympics on Sunday. Other notable shuttlers from India, including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, and men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, have withdrawn from the upcoming BWF Japan Open, which is set to begin on August 24.
Three past winners are competing in the tournament: Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino in mixed doubles and Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong in women’s doubles. Axelsen is one of the two defending champions.
The other two reigning champions, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin (who just won the Olympic gold) and An Se Young, will not be competing in the Japan Open.
Lakshya lost out on a podium finish in the first-ever quadrennial event to Axelsen, after coming agonizingly close to capturing the bronze medal for India in the Paris Olympics.
The Olympic champions Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, Chen Yu Fei, and Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti are among the other well-known withdrawees besides the Indian shuttlers.
The field is deep in all categories, despite a few well-known withdrawals. In the men’s singles, world champions Seo Seung Jae/Kang Min Hyuk will be aiming to win their first Japan Open title, while in the women’s doubles, local favorites Chiharu Shida/Nami Matsuyama and Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara will try to end the run of Korean success from 2019. In the women’s singles, Tai Tzu Ying, Akane Yamaguchi, Wang Zhi Yi, and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung are anticipated to be seen in action.
Olympic bronze medallists Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino will try to retain their title, with the field expected to include world champions Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yu Jung, Olympic silver medallists Kim Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun and Indonesia Open winners Jiang Zheng Bang/Wei Ya Xin.
Withdrawals from Japan Open 2024-
Men’s Singles: HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, Wang Po-Wei, Sameer Verma, Sankar Muthusamy, Oleksii Titov, Riku Hatano, and Garrett Tan.
Women’s Singles: An Se Young, Pusarla V Sindhu, Chen Yu Fei, He Bing Jiao, Carolina Marin, Eliana Zhang, Asuka Takahashi.
Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, Arif Junaidi/Roy King Yap, Sai Pratheek/Krishna Prasad Garaga, Julien Maio/William Villeger, Yuichi Shimogami/Takumi Nomura, Mahiro Kaneko/Shunya Ota, William Kryger Boe/Christian Faust Kjaer, Lin Yu Chieh/Chen Zhi Ray, Youcef Sabri Medel/Koceila Mammeri are the men’s doubles pairings.
Women’s Doubles: Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota; Setyana Mapasa/Angela Yu; Moa Sjoo/Tilda Sjoo; Wen Yu Zhang/Eliana Zhang; Sikki Reddy/Gadde Ruthvika Shivani; Rawinda Prajongjai/Jongkolphan Kititharakul; Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela.
Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong; Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping; Praveen Jordan/Serena Kani; Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje; Julien Maio/Lea Palermo; Oleksii Titov/Yevheniia Kantemeyr; Yuichi Shimogami/Sayaka Hobara; Kevin Lee/Eliana Zhang; Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari; Roy King Yap/Valeree Siow; Chen Zhi Ray/Yang Ching Tun; Koceila Mammeri/Tanina Violette Mammeri, etc.
