Carolina Marin, Kento Momota amongst huge stars as India Open set to be held behind closed doorways

Olympic champion Carolina Marin and World No. 1 Kento Momota will headline a star-studded subject of worldwide shuttlers when the India Open Super 500 occasion is held in New Delhi from May 11 to 16, albeit behind closed doorways because of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
The USD 400,000 match, one of many previous couple of qualification occasions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, has attracted 228 (114 males and 114 ladies) entries from 33 completely different nationwide associations, together with China.
However, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) stated “due to the rapidly rising COVID-19 cases in the country, the tournament will be contested in a bio-secure bubble without spectators and media while implementing strict COVID-19 safety protocols.”
“All the players and officials coming from South Africa, Brazil, Middle East and European countries including UK will be serving a 7-day quarantine period and have to report in the capital city on May 3,” BAI stated in a launch.
“… Players and officials from rest of the world can arrive on May 6 and undergo a 4-day quarantine period.”
On the court docket, three-time world champion Marin will lead the ladies’s singles class together with different Top-10 shuttlers comparable to Akane Yamaguchi, 2019 world champion PV Sindhu, Korea’s An Se-Young and Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong.
India boasts of the biggest contingent with 48 gamers (27 ladies and 21 males), whereas Malaysia has fielded the second greatest squad with 26 shuttlers, which incorporates 10 ladies and 16 males.
A complete of 10 shuttlers (4 ladies and 6 males) from China are additionally a part of the individuals record.
Among the boys, two-time world champion Momota, defending champion Viktor Axelson, Anders Antonsen and reigning All England Open champion Zii Jia Lee might be within the fray.
Former World No. 1 Srikanth Kidambi will lead the Indian cost together with B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap.
India’s males’s doubles problem might be spearheaded by World No. 10 pairing of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, whereas Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will goal for some useful Olympic qualification factors within the ladies’s doubles.
Ponnappa can even associate Satwik within the combined doubles class which sees the Japanese pair of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino main the record of six Top-10 mixtures in fray.
The final date for withdrawal of entry is April 19 whereas the draw might be introduced on April 20.
The governing physique stated “Delhi Government will conduct RT-PCR check on arrival on May 3 and 6 in addition to on May 9 and 14.
“We are really happy to finally be able resume badminton action. But with the recent spike in cases, we have to be more cautious,” BAI common secretary of BAI Ajay Singhania stated.
“We understand spectators have been an integral part of our growth story but this year despite it being an Olympic qualifier and an array of star shuttlers in action, we have to take the decision of conducting the tournament in a bio bubble.”