BWF World Championships: PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag get first-round bye

Indian shuttler PV Sindhu and mens doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty received firstround byes in the BWF World Championships 2023 draw held here on ThursdayThe tournament will be held in Copenhagen Denmark from August 21 to 27Sindhu however has been handed a tough draw and she might face Thailands Ratchanok Intanon and top seed An Se Young of Korea as they are grouped in the top half of the drawSindhu is the only Indian to feature in the womens singles competitionThe mens doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag achieved a careerbest world no2 ranking last month following their title triumph in Korea Open and are in the form of their life having won four titles in the year so farIndias mens singles challenge will be led by inform HS Prannoy seeded second in the upcoming event He will face Kalle Koljonen of FinlandAlso Read PV Sindhu HS Prannoy headline 16member Indian squad at BWF World ChampionshipsThe other Indians competing in mens singles Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth will play Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius and Kenta Nishimoto of Japan respectively in their firstround matchesPrannoy has been the most consistent Indian singles player in the last 12 months and is currently ranked ninth in the world He won the Malaysia Masters in May before finishing second best in last weeks Australian OpenIn womens doubles India have fielded two pairs While the duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand received a firstround bye Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam will be up against Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen of the NetherlandsRohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy will take on the Scottish pair of Adam Hall and Julie MacPherson in the opening round of mixed doubles while the other Indian combination of Venkat Prasad and Juhi Dewangan will face Jones Ralfy Jansen and Linda Efler of Germany in their campaign openerWhile 64 shuttlers will compete in mens singles 48 will feature in womens singles Besides there are 46 teams each in the three doubles events with the 16 highestranked players on the latest world ranking receiving seedings in all the five categoriesFour Indians will be in singles competition while six pairs will be in doubles action in the 28th edition of the tournamentSindhu is the most successful Indian player in the history of World Championships ndash title winner in 2019 silver medallist in 2017 2018 and bronze medallist in 2013 2014 editions of the tournamentBesides Sindhu former Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal has won two World Championships medals a silver in 2015 and bronze in 2017Former world no 1 Srikanth also won a silver in 2021The other Indian shuttlers to have bagged medals in the global event are Lakshya Sen B Sai Praneeth and the Ashwini PonnappaJwala Gutta pair all winning bronze medals India have so far bagged 13 medals in the BWF World ChampionshipsWith PTI inputs