PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen to lead India's challenge at Canada Open 2023

India's star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will lead India's challenge at the Canada Open 2023 badminton tournament, starting in Calgary on Tuesday.

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Sindhu will make a fresh start in the Canada Open 2023 after missing out on the Taipei Open 2023.
Sindhu, ranked 12th, has failed to make a mark in the last three BWF World Tour events as she could not go beyond the second round. The former world champion was ousted in the round of 16 at the Indonesia Open after earlier exits at the Singapore Open and Thailand Open. This season, Sindhu reached the final of Madrid Masters 2023 only once. She also made it to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters. The 27-year-old will open her women's singles campaign against world No. 61 Talia Ng of Canada.

Besides Sindhu, Tasnim Mir and Gadde Ruthvika Shivani are the others from India who will feature in the women's singles main draw. Tasnim begins her campaign against Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam, while Ruthvika Shivani will take on Supanida Katethong of Thailand in her opening game.

In the men's singles event, world number 19 Lakshya Sen will be the only Indian shuttler in the main draw. Lakshya Sen will play Thailand's World No. 3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the Round of 32. 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will take on German Kai Schaefer in the opening round of qualifying. S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian and B Sai Praneeth will also start in the qualification.

Meanwhile, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth have not participated in the Canada Open 2023 event. India's top doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who won the Indonesia Open last month, has also not participated in the tournament.

While in the men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will be the only challenge for India. The pair will take on French pair of Julien Maio and William Villeger in the opener.

In women's doubles, Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on Australian pair of Kaitlyn Ea and Gronya Somerville. The pairing of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda will also make their main draw debut.

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B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on Japanese pair of Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo in the first round of mixed doubles. Sai Pratheek K and Tanisha Crasto will start in the qualifiers.

Canada Open 2023 is the fourth Super 500 tournament on the 2023 BWF World Tour calendar after Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Masters and Thailand Open. Live streaming of the Canada Open 2023 will be available on the Badminton World Federation's official YouTube channel, BWF TV. The event will not be telecast live on any TV channel in India.

Canada Open 2023: Indian squad

Men's singles

Main Draw: Lakshya Sen   

Qualifiers: S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Parupalli Kashyap, B Sai Praneeth  

Women's singles

Main draw: PV Sindhu, Tasnim Mir, Gadde Ruthvika Shivani   

Men's doubles

Main draw: Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala

Women's doubles

Main draw: Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa, Rutaparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda

Mixed doubles

Main draw: Reddy B Sumeeth/Ashwini Ponnappa, Bokka Navaneeth/ Priya Konjengbam 

Qualifiers: Sai Pratheek K/Tanisha Crasto