The BWF Badminton World Championship is set to begin at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi tomorrow. India is hosting the World Championships after 17 years.
Shuttlers PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand will be leading the charge for the Indian contingent. India has two entries each in all the five disciplines of the championships.
Talking to media ahead of the tournament, former World Champion and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of hosting Olympics in India. She highlighted that India has the facilities and emphasised on improvising them. Sindhu who is seeded ninth, will be in the quest for a sixth medal at the World Championship this year and will face Sophia Noble of Ireland in the first round. The Former World Champion also termed India hosting the Badminton World Championship as a special moment and said that it has been very long since India hosted the World Championship.
World No.1 and Olympic Champion An Se Young of South Korea has praised PV Sindhu, describing her as a great player and emphasising that she has a lot of respect for the Indian shuttler. Talking to media, An Se Young said she is currently recovering from a recent injury. She also expressed hope that she will recover well and put up a strong performance at the championship.
Second seeded Indonesian men’s doubles pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri said that they are playing in India for the first time and have found the conditions favourable. The duo said the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium is a large venue capable of accommodating a much bigger audience compared to the stadiums they have played in Indonesia.
Fourth seeded Malaysian Men’s Doubles pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik appreciated the playing conditions at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Talking to media, the pair said that the playing environment is good for all the players.
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