With fond memories of his past triumph, defending champion Lakshya Sen is determined to end his title drought at the Canada Open badminton tournament. The world No. 14 Sen, the only Indian competing in the BWF World Tour Super 500 meet who will participate in the Paris Olympics, will begin his campaign on Tuesday. The reigning Commonwealth Games gold medalist’s form has dipped since his Canada Open victory last year, as he is yet to secure another title. Sen will strive to rediscover his rhythm as he prepares for the Paris Olympics, which is just a month away.
Sen, seeded fourth, finds himself in the bottom half of the draw, which features the Japanese duo of Kodai Naraoka (WR 6) and Koki Watanabe (WR 20). The former world championship bronze medalist Sen will face a qualifier in his opening match and could potentially meet Hong Kong’s WR 23 NG Ka Long Angus in the quarterfinals.
Three other Indians are in the men’s singles main draw. Priyanshu Rajawat, who recently reached the last eight in the US Open Super 300 event, will face eighth seed Rasmus Gemke of Denmark. Kiran George will take on Yushi Tanaka of Japan, while Ayush Shetty is the fourth Indian in the draw, starting his campaign against sixth seed Watanabe.
On a high after reaching the semifinals at the US Open last week, Malvika Bansod will face Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark in her opening women’s singles fixture. Malvika is also in the bottom half of the draw, which includes WR 14 Nozomi Okuhara as the second seed. Her next challenge could be against WR 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark, who is seeded fourth and could be Malvika’s last-16 opponent. If she overcomes this hurdle, Malvika might face fifth seed Sung Shuo Yun (WR 24). Anupama Upadhyaya will face Rachael Darragh of Ireland, while Tanya Hemanth will take on a qualifier among other Indians in the women’s singles.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are seeded third and received a bye into the round of 16. They will await the winners of Natasja Anthnisen (Denmark) and Alyssa Tirtosentono (Netherlands) and local favorites Chloe Hoang and Eliana Zhang.
The men’s doubles will feature Krishna Prasad Ganga and Sai Pratheek K as the only Indian challengers, in the absence of the star duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. They will face Lap Kan Kern Pong and Larry Pong in their opening round clash.
