Indian shuttlers prepare for home championships
The BWF World Badminton Championships 2026 are set to take place at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from August 17 to 23. India will have two entries in each of the five badminton disciplines, with at least one seeded contender in four of them. This marks the return of the World Championships to India after a 17-year gap, with the last event hosted in Hyderabad in 2009.
Among the seeded players, former champion PV Sindhu will be the ninth seed in the women’s singles event. The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty received the fifth seed, making them India’s highest-seeded entry in the tournament. Former World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen is seeded 14th in men’s singles, while Dhruv Kapila and Olympian Tanisha Crasto are the 15th seeds in mixed doubles.
Key matchups and potential pathways
Ayush Shetty, a 21-year-old shuttler who won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Junior Championships and a silver medal at the Asian Championships earlier this year, will face a significant challenge in the first round. He is drawn against Shi Yuqi of China, the defending world champion and top seed in men’s singles. Shetty has a 0-3 winless record against Yuqi, with previous losses at the 2026 Malaysia Open and the 2025 Indonesia Masters. Pulella Gopichand, the chief national coach of the Indian team, noted that facing Yuqi in the first round could be advantageous compared to later rounds.
Lakshya Sen will begin his campaign against Collins Valentine Filimon of Austria. If Sen advances past the first two rounds, he could potentially face the 2023 champion, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, in the third round. Gopichand acknowledged the toughness of Sen’s quarter, mentioning players like Christo Popov and Alex Lanier, but expressed confidence in Sen’s capabilities.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, will start her quest for an unprecedented sixth medal against Sophia Noble of Ireland. Sindhu previously won gold in 2019, along with two silver and two bronze medals at the World Championships. Placed in the top half of the draw, she could potentially encounter third seed Wang Zhi Yi in the Round of 16, sixth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani in the quarter-finals, and top seed An Se Young in a potential semi-final matchup.
Doubles teams receive byes
In the doubles categories, the fifth-seeded men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, along with the 15th-seeded mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, have both received first-round byes. This is consistent with the 64-pair doubles draw, where all seeded pairs receive a bye in the opening round.
India also has two pairs competing in the women’s doubles event, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand leading the unseeded entries. Other Indian pairs competing include Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun in men’s doubles, who will face Scott Guildea and Paul Reynolds of Ireland. In women’s doubles, Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi are scheduled to play against Nikol Carulla and Carmen Maria Jimenez of Spain, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will compete against Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez of Spain. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will represent India in mixed doubles, facing Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Crystal Lai of Canada.
The BWF World Championships will commence in New Delhi on August 17.
Source: newsonair.gov.in
