rewrite this title Sat-Chi’s return headlines India’s China Masters hopes

The badminton season is coming to an end for this year, but for Indian badminton fans there’s a new beginning to look forward to – the post-Olympics return of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The men’s doubles pair will be back in action at the China Masters Super 750 starting Tuesday, along with almost all of India’s top players.

The storylines at the final major BWF tournament of 2024 are intriguing, especially from an Indian perspective as players look to end a challenging season on a high. There’s the return of Sat-Chi without a regular coach, a rematch of the Olympic bronze medal match for Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu’s continued fight to regain her old aura.

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The biggest talking point, of course, is Satwik-Chirag making their comeback.

The former world No 1 pair haven’t played since their quarterfinal exit at the Paris Olympics in August, taking some time off for Satwik to recover from the shoulder injury that has plagued him for most of this season. They have started training together for the last few weeks and reached China well in advance as they gear up for a fresh Olympic cycle after the heartbreak of the last one.

They had reached the final of the event last year, losing to China’s world No 1 pair Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang. This year, they may not be able to replicate the run given they will have more rust compared to the field, but will look to build some momentum in what has been a season of two contrasting halves. They started 2024 with a bang, reaching three straight finals and being gold medal favourites in Paris; but an injury setback coupled with losses in important matches as the field figured out an antidote to their attack have seen them struggle.

The absence of coach Mathias Boe, who announced his retirement in August, will also be a challenge to deal with as he was instrumental in their rapid growth. There is no confirmation about their new coach, although rumours of Tan Kim Her – the man responsible for putting the champion pair together – returning have been doing the rounds. For now, it is expected that chief India coach Pullela Gopichand will be in their corner along with someone from the national set up.

Sat-Chi seeded sixth now after a long time away from the circuit, and placed in the same section as second seeds and fierce rivals Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. They will start their campaign Chinese Taipei’s Yang Po-Hsuan and Lee Jhe-Huei, whom they have a 3-0 record against, on Wednesday. The real test will be coming out of the quarter to match last year’s run while shaking off the rust and adjusting to a post-Boe world.

Elsewhere in singles, the big match to watch out for will be Lakshya Sen’s opener against reigning Olympic bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia.

Lakshya leads the Malaysian 4-2 in the head-to-head but the last time they played was the Paris Olympics where the Indian’s loss from a winning position resulted in scar tissue that he’s yet to overcome. Indeed, the 23-year-old is yet to win a match since the Olympics… with all being losses from a game up. As discussed on these pages last week, there’s no question about Lakshya’s physical ability to win big, but it’s the mentality that needs to click in tough situations.

If he can put behind last week’s loss in Japan and get a win over Lee it’ll do his confidence a world of good irrespective of where he finishes in the tournament. If he can get that win, he will play the winner of Rasmus Gemke vs Kenta Nishimoto and Anders Antonsen is the other seed in his quarter. Can Lakshya end his losing streak? Only time will tell.

Also in men’s singles, Priyanshu Rajawat has been promoted from reserves and will start against Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (H2H 0-2 ) and if we wins, have a potential second-round against world No 1 Shu Yu Qi.

In women’s singles, all Indian eyes will be on PV Sindhu as she strives to make a deep run at a big event, but there’s another positive storyline – the presence of four Indians in the draw. World No 35 Malvika Bansod, who has had memorable last few months, World No 44 Aakarshi Kashyap and World No 48 Anupama Upadhya (Promoted from reserves) are also in the draw.

Sindhu, who lost a 75-minute battle to old foe Michelle Li last week, has been struggling to close out matches off late. The now world No 20 is no longer seeded after a trophy-less run in the last two years and will take on Thai Busanan Ongbamrungphan, who she had beaten just last week and lead 19-1. A win will pit her against either Yeo Jia Min and Lo Sin Yan Happy, and both should be matches the Indian can win. The big test will be the quarterfinals should she reach there, likely against eighth seed Supanida Katethong, whom she leads 5-4 on head-to-head record, in her opener. This one will be tricky as Sindhu has been troubled by the left-hander before, but reaching the quarters will be a good boost nonetheless.

Malvika will take on Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt, Aakarsi will face Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in her opener, in the first round while Anupama will play Beiwan Zhang. There may not be many expectations from the second tier of Indian women’s badminton, but competing in big tournaments will give much needed experience.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who made a first round exit from the Kumamoto Masters Japan, last week will start against Hu Ling Fang and Jheng Yu Chieh and a win will pit them against Chinese second seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.

In mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy will take on Presley Smith and Jennie Gai and a win will result in a clash with Chinese top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping.