NEW DELHI: India’s leading shuttlers will look to turn encouraging form into tangible results when the USD 950,000 India Open Super 750 gets under way at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, with home advantage once again offering both opportunity and pressure.
Despite playing on familiar courts, Indian players have found success hard to come by at the India Open, with only a handful managing to lift the title over the past 15 years. This edition, too, presents immediate challenges, beginning with a high-profile all-Indian men’s singles first-round clash between Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty, while P V Sindhu opens her campaign against Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh.
Sindhu, the 2017 champion, arrives in Delhi buoyed by a semi-final finish at the Malaysia Open Super 1000, where she went down to world number two Wang Zhiyi. The run marked a timely confidence boost for the two-time Olympic medallist, who had spent the latter part of last year recovering from an injury.
Sen, who won the India Open in 2022, has endured a mixed start to the season. After ending 2025 on a high with the Australian Open Super 500 title, he suffered an early exit in Kuala Lumpur last week. Standing in his way now is the in-form Ayush, who has enjoyed a breakthrough phase, highlighted by his US Open Super 300 triumph last year and recent wins over several top-ranked players, including Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia.
Elsewhere in men’s singles, H S Prannoy faces Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu, while former champion Kidambi Srikanth, who reached two finals in 2025, has been drawn against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi.
In women’s singles, apart from Sindhu, Malvika Bansod will look to make an impression against Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei, with a group of young Indian shuttlers aiming to use the conditions to push deeper into the draw.
India’s strongest medal hopes once again rest with men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Winners in 2022, the duo have reached two finals in the last four editions and enjoyed a solid 2025 season before a quarterfinal exit at the Malaysia Open. They begin against Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith.