Badminton | Will India Open throw up a home champion after three years?

Top Indian shuttlers, organisers and fans would all be hoping to end the long drought for a home champion when the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 begins here on Tuesday.

The marquee $950,000 event in the Indian badminton calendar has not had an Indian champion since 2022 as the likes of P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen lead the host’s challenge, looking to convert their recent good run into results.

But it would not be easy with Lakshya, who finished 2025 with the Australian Open title, drawn against compatriot and former World junior championships bronze medallist Ayush Shetty in the opening round and Sindhu playing Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen, to whom she lost both her encounters in 2025.

The two are also the last Indian winners of the tournament — Lakshya in 2022 and Sindhu in 2017 — along with the duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, also in 2022.

While both Ayush and Lakshya were ousted in the second round at the Malaysia Open last week, Sindhu reached the semifinals and Sat-Chi made it to the quarterfinals. World No. 1 An Se Young, meanwhile will start off against Nozomi Okuhara

The duo was also the most successful Indian on the tour in 2025 despite persistent injury struggles, winning bronze at the World Championships and qualifying for the knockout stage of the World Tour Finals. The World No. 3 would want to set the record straight here, starting with the American pair of Zhi Yi Chen and Presley Smith.

Shi pulls out

H.S. Prannoy, who made it to the main draw after Anders Antonsen withdrew, will be up against Hong Kong’s Cheuk Yiu Lee, while K. Srikanth will take on compatriot Tharun Mannepalli who made the grade after the top seed and World No. 1 Shi Yu Qi of China pulled out late on Monday because of a back injury. In the women’s section, Tanvi Sharma advanced from the reserves after Chen Yu Fei also withdraw due to injury.

The tournament has also moved to the much larger Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from the smaller K.D. Jadhav Hall and will be a test event for the World Championships in August.