Sindhu, Lakshya Sen would like to regain form after Arctic Open disappointment

New Delhi, 14 October (HS). Indian badminton star P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will be keen to bounce back from a disappointing start to their season by taking part in the USD 850,000 Denmark Open Super 750 starting on Tuesday.

Both players faced tough times at the Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland last week, where former world champion Sindhu suffered a first-round defeat while 2021 world bronze medalist Sen was eliminated in the second round.

At the Arena Finn in Odense, both players will be hoping for better results. The duo will lead India's challenge in the prestigious tournament, which is the 13th edition of the 2024 BWF World Tour.

Sen, who had finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, had lost to Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen last week. Here, 23-year-old Sen from Almora will face Lu Guang Xue of China in his opening match.

If he progresses, Sen could face Indonesia's Jonathan Christie in the second round, while reigning world champion Kunlawut Vitidsarn of Thailand will be waiting for him in the quarter-finals.

Two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu will have to quickly resolve the issues affecting her performance after her disappointing first-round loss to Canada's Michelle Li at the Arctic Open, an opponent she has defeated 10 times before.

Under the guidance of new coach Anup Sridhar and Korea's Lee Hyun-il, she will play her first match against Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po and if she progresses, she may face China's Han Yu in the second round.

Apart from Sindhu, India will have several other competitors in the women's singles, including in-form Malvika Bansod, Akarshi Kashyap and promising talent Unnati Hooda.

Bansod, who had reached the quarterfinals of the China Open, will first face Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh, while Kashyap will face Thailand's Supanida Katethong. 2022 Odisha Open winner Hooda will face Lauren Lam of USA.

There will be no Indian representation in the men's doubles, but Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who missed the Paris Olympics, will feature in the women's doubles, where they will face fifth-seeded Malaysian pair of Pearly Tan and Thinnah Muralitharan.

The Panda sisters, Swetaparna and Rutaparna, will take on Chinese Taipei's Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tung. In mixed doubles, husband-wife pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy will face Canada's Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang, while Satish Karunakaran and Aadya Wariath will face Indonesia's Rehan Kusharjanto and Lisa Kusumawati.