BWF World Championships 2023: The action in the BWF Tour will shift to the BWF World Championships. The annual tournament is scheduled to get underway from Monday, 21st August at Copenhagen, Denmark. India’s action will be led by HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu in the Men’s and Women’s singles respectively. India’s Men’s Doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty meanwhile enter the tournament as title contenders.
Also Read: BWF World Championships: HS Prannoy targets maiden World title, Check his projected path to final
India’s podium finishes so far in BWF World Championships
In 28 editions of the World Championships so far, India have won 13 medals. It includes one gold, four silvers and 8 bronze medals since 1977. The legendary Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a medal — a bronze — at the World Championships in 1983.
PV Sindhu, the 2019 champion, is the most successful Indian with five medals. She is also the only Indian so far to win the Gold medal in the prestigious event. She had also won two silver medals in 2017 and 2018 and successive bronze medals in 2013 and 2014. Saina Nehwal is the other multiple medallist in the tournament. The former World No.1 clinched silver in 2015 and bronze in 2017.
In the Men’s Singles, after Prakash Padukone, Sai Praneeth clinched the bronze medal in 2019. Srikanth bettered the show in 2021 with a silver medal. While Lakshya Sen also finished on the podium with a bronze medal in the same year.
Women’s Doubles pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were the first Doubles pair from the country to win a medal in the event. They clinched bronze medal way back in 2011. Much recently, Men’s Doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the bronze medal in the last edition.
BWF World Championships 2023 – Indians in fray
Men’s Singles
World No.9 HS Prannoy enters the tournament as India’s No.1 ranked Men’s Singles player. He won the Malaysia Masters title earlier this year. The 31-year old will be entering the World Championships after finishing as runner-up at the Australian Open much recently.
Prannoy finished at the quarterfinal stage in both 2021 and 2022 editions. Given his consistent run in the last 12 months, he will be a favourite for the title in the upcoming edition.
Lakshya Sen and Srikanth too will be looking to add to their medal tallies. Lakshya Sen is in-form as he won the Canadian Open title last month. Srikanth meanwhile has been erratic this season. He would look to turn it around quickly especially in the Olympic qualification period.
Women’s Singles
It has been a struggle in this season for five-time medallist PV Sindhu. She is yet to win a title in the BWF Tour this season. Struggling for form, she has also slid down the rankings. She enters the tournament after 16th seed. Sindhu too hopes for a quick turnaround of fortunes in the Olympic qualification period. She will be the only Indian in the Women’s Singles of the tournament this year.
Men’s Doubles
All eyes will also be on Satwiksaraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. They have had a terrific season this year so far. The Indian duo won the Swiss Open, Asian Championships, Indonesia Open and Korea Open titles in 2023. They are currently ranked World No.2 and look to add the elusive World Championships gold into their kitty.
Chirag and Satwik will be the second seeds in the tournament this year. Having won the bronze medal in the previous edition. They are aiming for a much improved show and as the the country’s best doubles pair at world number 2, as they look to better the colour of the bronze that they claimed in the last edition.
In the Women’s Singles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will be the only seeded pairs from India. They are the 15th seeds and they are looking to make a deep run in the tournament. The other Indian duo in action in the Women’s Doubles will be Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam. In the Mixed Doubles, Rohan Kapoor/N Sikki Reddy and Venkat Prasad/Juhi Dewangan are also in fray.
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