P V Sindhu Faces Tough Opener at Denmark Open Badminton Tournament

Sindhu's Challenging Start at Denmark Open

P V Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, is set to encounter a formidable opponent in her opening match against world No. 1 and reigning champion An Se-young at the USD 950,000 Denmark Open Super 750 tournament, which kicks off on Tuesday.

In the men's singles, Lakshya Sen also faces a significant challenge as he prepares to compete against third seed Chou Tien Chen.

Sindhu, a former world champion, arrives in Denmark with a mixed bag of recent performances, having clinched the Japan Open Super 750 title in July, but only reaching the quarterfinals at last week's Arctic Open, where she lost a hard-fought match to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon.

The 31-year-old will be particularly concerned about her past encounters with An, having lost all ten previous matches against her.

Meanwhile, Lakshya is eager to regain his top form following a disappointing performance at the Asian Games. His results have fluctuated significantly over the last two years.

Earlier this year, he was the runner-up at the All England Championships for the second time, four years after his first final appearance in 2022.

Lakshya is also notable for being the only Indian men's singles player to reach the Olympic semifinals in 2024.

However, he has been dealing with a back injury recently. He managed to defeat Japan's Kodai Naraoka in the quarterfinals of the men's team event at the Asian Games but was eliminated in the round of 32 in the individual competition.

To succeed against Chou, who recently defeated Ayush Shetty in three games at the Asian Games, Lakshya will need to find his best form.

Ayush, on the other hand, aims to build on his recent successes. He won the US Open Super 300 title in 2025 and made headlines at this year's World Championships by defeating the then world No. 1 Shi Yuqi.

He will face Indonesia's Alwi Farhan, who previously defeated him in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships.

Kidambi Srikanth, who won the men's singles title at this tournament in 2017, will begin his campaign against France's Arnaud Merkle.

India's women's singles contingent also features Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita Chaliha, Devika Sihag, and Unnati Hooda.

Tanvi, who will compete against Japan's Natsuki Nidaira, recently secured her first BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open in August. Ashmita, facing Bulgaria's Kaloyana Nalbantova, also arrives as a tour-level champion after winning the Korea Masters Super 300 in August.

Devika will take on eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong from Thailand, while Unnati faces China's Han Qian Xi.

Unnati had an impressive run at the Asian Games last month, reaching the quarterfinals after defeating a top-10 opponent and pushing Japan's Akane Yamaguchi to three games.

In men's doubles, the former world No. 1 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to recover from their unexpected first-round exit at the Asian Games.

The Indian pair won the Singapore Open Super 750 title in May, ending a two-year title drought, and followed it up with a victory at the China Masters last month.

As fifth seeds, they will face China's He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu in their opening match. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will lead India's women's doubles challenge after winning a historic bronze at the World Championships in August.

They reached the quarterfinals at the Asian Games before losing to Malaysia's Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

In Denmark, they will open against Chinese Taipei's Yan Fei Chen and Hsieh Pei Shan. Another Indian pair, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda, will compete against sixth seeds Bao Li Jing and Cao Zi Han from China.