BWF World Championships: After their fresh exploits in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games hosted by Birmingham, the Indian shuttlers have set their sights on dominating the BWF World Championships which is being hosted by Tokyo. The Indian badminton contingency had won six gold medals in the latest edition of the Commonwealth Games which also includes three gold medals. The Indian team is now eyeing the World Championships medal and will like to put up an enthralling show that helps them to achieve the title.
Even before Team India could reach Tokyo, star shuttler PV Sindhu pulled out of the tournament owing to a stress fracture on her left foot that she sustained at the multi-nation sporting event. Sindhu could be spotted in pain and has now decided to miss the tournament and give herself some time off to recover. PV Sindhu missing the tournament puts a huge onus on the likes of Saina Nehwal in women’s singles, alongside Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth who are being touted as favorites and are India's top bets to clinch medals in the ongoing tournament.
India's Satwiksai Raj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty took the court on August 24, 2022, Wednesday and were seen participating in the Round 32 clash of the BWF World Championships 2022 Match. Rewinding to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, it was the duo of Rankireddy and Shetty who helped India earn a historic gold medal in the mixed team event at the 2018 Goldcoast Commonwealth Games where they also ended up winning the men's doubles silver. Scripting new pages in history, Rankireddy and Shetty earned themselves the credit of becoming the first Indian doubles pair to emerge victorious in the BWF World Tour as they won the Thailand Open and toppled the Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the final.
When they turned up for the 2019 French Open, they lost the final to Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen. The duo was also a part of the Indian team that registered the historic Thomas Cup Victory earlier this year and they later went on to clinch the Gold medal in the recently concluded Commonwealth Game 2022, Birmingham. They managed to defeat England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15 and 21-13 and made it look like a one-sided clash.
The Indian contingency's hopes will be highly pinned upon the duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksai Raj Rankireddy and will hope that they continue to decimate the opposition and solidify India's stand at the ongoing BWF World Championships, 2022.
Full Schedule for BWF World Championships 2022
August 22: Round of 64
August 23: Round of 64 and Round of 32
August 24: Round of 32
August 25: Round of 16
August 26: Quarter-finals
August 27: Semi-finals
August 28: Finals
Indian squad for BWF World Championships
Men's doubles: Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy, Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjula, MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila
Women's doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam, Pooja Dandu/Sanjana Santosh
Mixed doubles: Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto and Venkat Gaurav Prasad/Juhi Dewanga
