Asian Games 2023: Analysing India's badminton squad
The Indian badminton squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2023 will consist of 19 players, 10 men and nine women.
HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, and Treesa Jolly/Gayathri Gopichand were handed direct spots in the team due to their world ranking. The other 13 players were chosen through trials held in Hyderabad.
The men's and women's singles teams will have four players each, while all three doubles categories will have two pairs. The top players in each category will compete in both the teams and individual events.
Leading the way in women's singles will be Olympic medalist and ex-world champion PV Sindhu. She will be joined by Ashmita Chaliha for the individual events, and Anupama Upadhyay and Malvika Bansod in the team tournament.
Sindhu, who clinched India's sole badminton silver at the 2018 Jakarta Games, will make for an ideal leader of the singles players.
Out of the young guns, only Ashmita Chaliha was present in the squad of the 2018 Asiad. Anupama Upadhyay and Malvika Bansod will be making their maiden appearances at the tournament, and the way they handle the pressure will prove critical to the team's successes.
On the women's doubles end, Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand will be partaking in both the individual and team events. They will be joined by Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in the team tournament.
Keeping in mind the recent form of Treesa and Gayathri, backed by Ponnappa's experience, this might be the first time that India's doubles duos are stronger than their singles counterparts.
India's Asian Games men's line-up
Leading the charge in the men's singles will be HS Prannoy and Srikanth Kidambi. Lakshya Sen and Mithun Manjunath will accompany their compatriots in the team events.
Neither Lakshya nor Mithun were present in the men's squad for the 2018 Games, but both hold great promise.
Going into the Hangzhou Games, HS Prannoy and Mithun Manjunath have both been in spectacular form, and they will be key to India's chances.
The men's doubles event will see the duos Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila/ MR Arjun in action. Rankireddy and Shetty have had some strong performances recently, and they might just prove to be the difference between an early exit or a podium finish.
India's mixed doubles squad for the Asian Games
India's mixed doubles pairs for the Asian Games will consist of Rohan Kapoor/Sikki Reddy and Sai Pratheek/ Tanisha Crasto. Given the extremely competitive nature of mixed doubles in Asia, an appearance on the podium seems unlikely for either pair.
Additionally, since the Asiad has no mixed team event, both pairs will only get a chance to prove themselves in the individual tournament.
India had so far experienced a moderate level of success in badminton at the Asian Games. Shuttlers have won 10 medals over the various editions of the games, but save Sindhu's silver, all of them have been bronze. It remains to be seen if the 2023 squad can add the elusive gold to the collection.