In what promises to be a test event for the 2024 Olympics, the world's best badminton players have arrived in Paris, France to take part in the BWF Super 750 French Open at the same arena that will host Olympic badminton in a few months' time. With the pressure ratcheting up, here are a few storylines to keep track off at the French Open, from an Indian perspective:
*The draws are subject to change with last minute withdrawals. We will keep this copy updated with any changes
Sindhu's return to the Tour
PV Sindhu's back - and how. After a long injury layoff, Sindhu returned to competitive badminton with a superb Badminton Asia Team Championships win. Even though she started with expected rustiness, she improved as the tournament went on, and was stellar in the final, setting the tone for the win with a 21-12, 21-12 dismantling of Supanida Katethong.
She'll now want to mark her return to the BWF World Tour with a similar kind of emphasis. She starts off against Canada's Michelle Li (whom she beat in the 2022 Commonwealth Games final) but could potentially run into old rival Carolina Marin in the second round if she passes the Li challenge. The draw is a tough one, as you'd expect at a Super 750, with world no. 2 Chen Yu Fei a potential quarterfinal opponent.
Top-seeds Sat-Chi look to win first title in 2024
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty enter the tournament as world number one and will have a point to prove after a superb, but trophy-less, start to the year. They've already reached two finals in 2024, but lost both of them and that's something they will want to address by repeating their 2022 heroics: when they became the first Indian duo to win a Super 750 tournament.
As it with top-level men's doubles these days, it won't be an easy task: but their path to the quarters seem fairly straightforward with world nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 (Seo-Kang, Liang-Wang, Astrup-Rasmussen, and Soh-Chia) all on the other side of the draw.
Srikanth and Lakshya chasing Olympic qualification
Both Kidambi Srikanth (world no. 24) and Lakshya Sen (world no. 19) are in a desperate hunt for points as they seek to make the cut for the Paris Olympics. Since HS Prannoy (world no. 7) is virtually assured of a place at the Olympics, a second Indian can only qualify by being in the top 16 in BWF's Race to Paris (RTP) rankings. Lakshya is just outside it at 17 and Srikanth's losing ground at 27 in that ranking list.
And it doesn't get any easier for the duo. Lakshya takes on fellow Paris-quota chaser Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan (24th in RTP rankings), with a potential second round tie against world no. 4 Li Shi Feng after that. Srikanth, meanwhile, is up against world no. 14 Chou Tien Chen and awaiting him after that is a potential clash with Prannoy in the second round. Either's reward for making it past the other would be a potential quarterfinal against world no. 2 Shi Yu Qi.
Prannoy, the highest ranked Indian singles player on tour, will take on China's world no. 17 Lu Guang Zu. The other Indian in the draw, Priyanshu Rajawat, meanwhile, has the unenviable task of taking on world no.1 Viktor Axelsen in the first round.
Gaya-Tree vs Ash-Tan in a straight shootout
Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa are 20th in the RTP rankings while Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly are 27th. This means it's going to be a straight shootout between the two to see who can book a ticket to the Games: and that starts in the first round here. Pitted against each other, a win would be a huge boost in their pursuit to move further forward (Ash-Tan) or close the gap down (Gaya-Tree).
It will be an interesting battle, with Gaya-Tree coming off an excellent showing in the BATC where they stepped up against the odds, under big pressure. In the same tournament, Tanisha suffered a minor injury that kept her out of the semis and final (and Ashwini out of the final), and they will want to prove that they are India's no. 1 women's doubles pairing.