Orleans Masters Badminton: Saina Nehwal to Lead Indian Challenge

India’s top badminton players Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap will be in action at the Orleans Master 2023, which will be held from April 4 to 9 in France.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who lost in the final of the Madrid Masters 2023 on Sunday, and men’s singles players Lakshay Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy will skip the BWF Super 300 tournament.

Saina Nehwal, who last played at the Indian Open this year will look to start fresh after missing the German Open, All England Open, Swiss Open and the Madrid Spain Masters tournaments. The former world No. 1, who is currently 31st in the badminton rankings, will open her campaign against a qualifier in the opening round.

Saina Nehwal, however, stands a chance to play Rio 2016 Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the second round. Watch Orleans Masters badminton live streaming in India!

Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap, who has been out of action this year due to injury, will make a return to court ahead of the Paris 2024 qualification phase which will run from May 1, 2023, to April 28, 2024. The 97th-ranked shuttler in the men’s singles will start from the qualifiers. He will play Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen.

Parupalli Kashyap enjoys a slender advantage over Chi Yu Jen in head-to-head, having won against the 56th-ranked opponent in Taipei Open last year.

Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap will participate in the women’s singles events. In the men’s singles, Sameer Verma and Mithun Manjunath will be in action. B Sai Praneeth will face a qualifier in the opener.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who won the Swiss Open last month, are the top seeds in the men’s doubles. Ranked sixth in the world, the India pair will open against the Dutch pair of Ruben Jille and Ties van der Lecq.

Where to watch Orleans Masters Open 2023 badminton live in India

Live streaming of the Orleans Masters Open 2023 matches will be available on the Badminton World Federation’s official YouTube channel, BWF TV. There will be no live telecast of the event on any TV channel in India.

Orleans Masters Open 2023 badminton: India squad

Men’s singles

Main draw – B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George

Qualifying – P Kashyap, Priyanshu Rajawat, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam

Women’s singles

Main draw – Saina Nehwal, Aakarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod

Qualifying – Tanya Hemanth, Tasnim Mir, Ashmita Chaliha

Men’s doubles

Main draw: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala

Women’s doubles

Main draw – N Sikki Reddy/Arathi Sara Sunil, Ritika Thaker/Simran Singhi

Qualifying – Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa

Mixed doubles

Qualifying – B Sumeeth Reddy/Ashwini Ponnappa, Sai Pratheek K/Tanisha Crasto, Rohan Kapoor/N Sikki Reddy