BWF World Tour: What Indians’ crash out of Singapore Open 2023 means for the Olympics

(From left) HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu, among other India shuttlers, are out of the Singapore Open 2023. (Photo Twitter)

Half-way into the Asian leg of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) tour has brought out a mix of results for Indian players. Some significant successes earlier in the month have now been diluted by what’s been a no-gain week in Singapore.

HS Pronnoy, who only last week won the Malaysia Masters, got knocked out of the ongoing Singapore Open first round on Tuesday, a 15-21 19-21 defeat to No. 4 Kodai Naraoka. It’s the kind of result that not only highlights the unpredictability of sport, but also the mercuriality of Pronnoy. His last title before Malaysia had come in the US Open in 2017, following which were a series of unfortunate events, including a difficult recovery from Covid, leading up to this delayed title last week.

The first Indian male to triumph at the Malaysia event, the 30-year-old, who is climbing up the rankings again, has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the last six years, as he told the BWF website. One of the highs of the rollercoaster ride was last year’s Thomas Cup, in which Pronnoy’s recovery after slipping in the semi-final — and worryingly injuring his ankle — paved the way for India’s first-ever title in the over 70-year-old team tournament.

Besides Pronnoy, the other player who headed into Singapore in form was PV Sindhu. She returned to this happy hunting ground at a time when her career is at a crossroad. Last July, she had won the title in Singapore, beating Zhi Yi Wang in the final. But the rest of 2022 was a washout for Sindhu owing to an ankle injury that threatened to derail her career.

This year started slowly for her, but some encouraging results recently indicated a return to form and confidence. After a series of early round exits in the beginning of the year, Sindhu made it to the final of the Spain Masters in Madrid in April and the semi-final of the Malaysia Masters in May. But Singapore dealt a blow to that ascent, handing Sindhu with a difficult draw as she lost in the first round to top seed Akane Yamaguchi.

“Progress wise, it’s been fine. But today was anybody’s game,” Sindhu said after her loss. “Overall, I’m happy I’m back on court after the injury because sometimes, it’s really hard to lose close matches but I’m going to come back stronger.”

“It’s important I go back and learn from my mistakes. It’s an Olympic qualification year so I just want to get back to my best and stay injury free,” the BWF website reported her as saying.

The other Indians in fray faced equally challenging opponents. Another player trying to find his lost groove, Lakshya Sen, lost to number five Tien Chen Chou in the first round. Sen, who made it to the semi-finals in the Thailand Open last week, had beaten Tien before at the All England this year. Saina Nehwal had number seven seed Ratchanok Intanon in her opening round, which ended in straight games for the Indian.

Priyanshu Rajawat, the baby of the team that won the Thomas Cup last year, is beginning to spread his wings now. His first World Tour title at the Orleans Masters in April made him a player to watch closely. His Singapore campaign began well enough against the higher ranked Kanta Tsuneyama, who he beat in straight games, before losing in the second round to Japan’s Naraoka.

The usually reliable doubles combination of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the fifth seeds, went early too, losing to the Japanese duo of Akira Koga and Taichi Saito while MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also lost early to England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in straight games.

The last Indian player to be eliminated, K Srikanth, went down to unfancied Chia Hao Lee in straight games in the second round on Thursday.

There are two more events left in the Asian leg, Indonesia and Taipei, but with the Paris 2024 already on the horizon, all players would need consistency going into the Olympic year. This could already be the last realistic chance of an Olympic medal for Srikanth and Pronnoy while Sindhu has an opportunity to improve on her silver and bronze medals. Shetty and Rankireddy have for long been promising much, following their influential performances in last year’s Thomas Cup and their maiden title in the Asian Championships recently. Sen is the highest ranked Indian male player, who has had an unimpressive 2023 barring one semi-final appearance in Thailand this month.

Singapore, upgraded to a Super 750 status on the BWF Tour, may be just an aberration, in which none of the Indian players could make inroads into the final stages. But it was also a good benchmark, with an almost full strength roster of top players in the draws, of how much better Indian players need to get to make an impact in a marquee event like the Olympics.