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PV Sindhu will lead the Indian contingent in the 60th edition of the Yonex Swiss Open, which will be played in Basel, Switzerland, from March 21-26. HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth are India's men's singles hopes in this BWF World Tour Super 300 event.
Indian badminton has been going through a struggling phase, with good results few and far between. With the Asian Games scheduled to take place later this year and the Paris Olympics qualifying period approaching thick and fast, Indian shuttlers need to buck up.
The Swiss Open will give the contingent the perfect opportunity to rebound from what has been a highly disappointing campaign at last week's All England Open. Apart from the young women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand, who made the semi-finals, none of the other Indian players even managed to breach the second-round hurdle.
PV Sindhu returns to the Swiss Open as the defending champion. It was one of four titles she won last season. The picture is in sharp contrast this year as she is yet to win any matches on the BWF World Tour in three outings so far.
Clearly, the two-time Olympic medalist's return from a five-month injury layoff hasn't so far gone the way she would have liked. Having undergone a change in her coaching set-up, the Indian shuttle queen is probably taking longer than usual to adjust to the new system.
Sindhu will hope this is the tournament where she finally finds her rhythm as she begins her title defense against unheralded local hope Jenjira Stadelmann.
HS Prannoy, a former champion and last year's runner-up, meanwhile, has to negotiate with World No. 10 Shi Yu Qi, who made the final in Birmingham last week.
Eighth seed Lakshya Sen has the 19th-ranked Lee Cheuk Yiu up first, while 2015 champion Kidambi Srikanth has drawn World No. 23 Weng Hong Yang.
In men's doubles, second seed Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty will face Malaysian qualifiers Boon Xin Yuan/Wong Tien Ci. The women's doubles pair of Jolly and Gopichand have a tough task against second seeds Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the first round.
Swiss Open 2023 schedule
Venue: St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland
Tournament category: BWF World Tour Super 300
Qualifying rounds: March 21, 2023
First round: March 21-22, 2023
Second round: March 23, 2023
Quarter-finals: March 24, 2023
Semi-finals: March 25, 2023
Finals: March 26, 2023
Matches for the first few days are likely to start at 11 am local time / 3.30 pm IST.
Swiss Open 2023 telecast channel list in India
The Swiss Open will be broadcast live in India on Sports18 1 and Sports18 1 HD channels from Thursday, March 23. The matches can also be streamed live on Voot Select and Jio Cinema.
Live streaming will be available on YouTube on BWF.TV as well.
Live scores can also be followed on the tournament software throughout the tournament.
Full list of Indian contingent playing at Swiss Open 2023 (Main draw)
Men's singles: HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Kiran George, Mithun Manjunath
Women's singles: PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod
Men's doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala
Women's doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam, Sikki Reddy/Arathi Sara Sunil
Mixed doubles: Rohan Kapoor/Sikki Reddy
