Badminton World Championships 2021: All you need to know
What's the story
The Badminton World Championships 2021 will be starting today with all eyes on India's PV Sindhu. Sindhu, who is enjoying an impressive form of late, claimed her second silver medal at the season-ending World Tour Finals. She also clocked successive semi-final appearances at French open, Indonesia Masters, and Indonesia Open. Here are the key details about the BWF World Championships.
Context
Why does it matter?
Sindhu is a hot favorite to bag a medal in this year's BWF World Championships. Sindhu is a five-time medalist here, having the bronze in 2013 and 2014. She won the silver medal in 2017 and 2018 respectively before the gold in 2019. Sindhu knows she has to produce her best game and get to the finish line. She is in good form.
Absentees
No Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara
Former BWF World Championships winners Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara are absent after pulling out of the tournament. Marin was unable to recover completely from a left knee injury sustained earlier in the year and decided to sit out. Okuhara has withdrawn from event as the Indonesian contingent also decided to skip the event due to concerns over the new COVID-19 variant in Europe.
Title
Can Sindhu defend her title?
Sindhu will aim to defend her World Championships crown. She had won her maiden title at the event in 2019. Sindhu has won several key matches across tournaments in recent time and this will be a major chance for her to show character and finesse. Two two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu is seeded sixth and will start her campaign against world No. 72 Martina Repiska.
Challengers
Who are the key challengers?
Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong has the attributes of staying long and churning out results. She has beaten Sindhu twice this year. World number one Tai Tzu Ying has been missing on the tour since she pocketed a silver at the Tokyo Olympics. She leads Sindhu 14-5 in the head-to-head meetings. Sindhu has never beaten Korean teen An Seyoung, who won the Tour Finals recently.
Men's singles
Four men's representatives for India in singles
In the men's section, India will have four representatives. Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and HS Prannoy will be aiming to go as far as possible. 12th seed Srikanth will face world number 53 Pablo Abian in the opener. Prannoy will face eighth seed NG Ka Long Angus. 14th seed Praneeth will be up against Mark Caljouw.
Information
Where to watch the BWF World Championships?
The BWF World Championships 2021 will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network. One can stream the same on the Disney+Hotstar app (paid subscription). The event is being held in Huelva, Spain.