Danger comes early in pre-quarters at Delhi Badminton World’s

After a potential clash with Wang, Sindhu can face Wardani of Indonesia who has been her nemesis of sorts in recent times. At the 2025 edition, Sindhu defeated Wang but lost to Putri in the quarterfinals.

Sindhu is eyeing her sixth Worlds medal and she won’t get a better chance than this to win it in front of the home crowd.

Youngster Unnati Hooda, who starts against Thet Htar Thuzar of Myanmar, has a potential Round of 32 clash against experienced Michelle Li of Canada.

In the men’s singles, both home boys have got tough opponents coming early in the draw. Lakshya Sen, who was seeded 14th, has a potential pre-quarters clash with Olympic silver and World Championships gold medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn while unseeded Ayush Shetty will face World no 1 and reigning world champion Shi Yuqi of China in the first round.

“It is better that Ayush faces Shi Yuqi in the first round instead of the later rounds. It gives him a chance to take him out early if he pulls off the upset. With his big smash, Ayush is definitely going to be a threat,” said Gopichand.

“If we talk about Lakshya, men’s singles is a stacked field. Lakshya had a good run at All England where he defeated both Shi and Li Shifeng. So, it is going to be an unpredictable but exciting men’s singles tournament this time,” he said.

Focus on Sat-Chi

India’s biggest medal hope is going to be the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The duo got a bye in the first round but have a potential clash with Olympic silver medallist Chinese pair Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in quarters.

Upstarts Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin who made finals of the Super 1000 Indonesia Open, can prove handful testing the Indian service returns.

“The draw is quite okay. On their day, if Satwik-Chirag is in good form, they can beat anyone,” said coach Tan Kim Her, who will have Mathias Boe join him in strategizing.

However, the biggest concern remains Satwik’s long-term shoulder fitness, that needs managing at all times. After winning the Singapore Open 750 in June, the duo skipped tournaments to prepare for the World’s and avoided aggravation from over-use.

“His shoulder is almost fully recovered now. He is ready now,” Tan said. “He has gone through rehab. I think now he is improving a lot. Of course, the rehab is still there but he is getting much better. Chirag is fully 100 per cent fit.”

However, the Malaysian coach admitted that Satwik’s shoulder, which has troubled him since suffering a tear several years ago, continues to be a worry. “I am a little worried about Satwik’s shoulder. It is on and off, hopeful he will overcome it in time. That’s my only concern. They are confident otherwise,” he said.

Treesa-Gayatri’s comeback

In the women’s doubles, top Indian duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were on sidelines due to an injury dating back to eve of Uber Cup when Treesa collided with her mixed doubles partner. The duo just returned to the court last week at the Philippines International Challenge winning the title.

“Treesa’s injury was an unfortunate one. She collided with another shuttler while playing a mixed doubles game. It was unfortunate but they have returned and they looked good in the last tournament, said Gopichand.

The Indian duo was unseeded because of injury layoff is expected to produce one or two upsets that can put them in the medal contention.

“It is quite possible that they can produce upsets. I have seen them train in recent times and they don’t have the exhaustion that other pairs will have from the hectic world tour,” said Gopichand.

Interestingly in the 2011 edition, it was the unseeded pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in women’s doubles that had won the bronze medal, a first for India.

In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto are 15th-seed but will have to go through the fourth seed duo of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Pawesampran of Thailand.