26-04-2025
Sudirman Cup 2025: Depleted India hope PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen lead from the front in tricky group
In many ways, the build-up to the biggest team event of the year in badminton has largely matched the nature of India's results on tour: subdued. Given the famous men's team's Thomas Cup triumph back in 2022, and to a smaller extent, the women's team winning the Asia Team Championships in 2024, there have been expectations around team events – that India can go toe-to-toe with the world's best when it comes to these marquee tournaments that usually display a country's badminton depth.
On paper, with a fully fit squad, India would have fancied their chances of doing well at the Sudirman Cup Finals this year, primarily because of the improved results in the three doubles disciplines in the recent past.
While form has been patchy lately, on their day Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand would have been able to challenge most pairs in the world. But the former world No 1 men's doubles duo – SatChi – as well as the country's only entries in the top 10 across disciplines – TreGa – are not in the squad for the tournament, starting in Xiamen on Sunday. The Indian Express understands both Treesa and Gayatri are carrying some sort of niggles, so even fielding one of them in a scratch women's doubles pairing wasn't an option. The same with Satwik and Chirag, with the former recovering from an illness while the latter has been having issues with his lower back, which led to their early withdrawal from the prestigious All England Open last month.
No other tournament tests the depth of the badminton talent pool like the Sudirman Cup Finals. The 2025 edition of the biennial World Mixed Team Championships will see the top 16 teams who qualified for the tournament through continental events and world rankings compete for the coveted title – and perhaps eventually come to a familiar realisation that nobody does this better than China. The badminton powerhouses, who have sometimes been overcome in the recent past in the men's and women's World Team events (Thomas and Uber Cup finals) are once again the supreme favourites for the mixed team event, because of their enviable talent across all five disciplines.
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For India, the challengers in Group D are the second seeds, Indonesia and European powerhouses, Denmark. England are the fourth team in the group, out of which only the top two will make it through to the quarterfinals, a hurdle that already seems daunting. The onus falls on Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy to steer India through a hugely tricky group.
The lack of men's doubles depth is particularly jarring as below SatChi, the next best option is world No 41 Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi, with no backup named. But it is a golden opportunity for the youngsters to test the waters at this level. Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam are a bit more experienced in women's doubles, but India might be tempted to play Tanisha Crasto in a scratch pairing if required. Something similar could be tried with Dhruv Kapila for men's doubles too, as funky combinations are commonplace in such events.
The silver lining on India's otherwise dismal start to the BWF World Tour in 2025 has been the steady rise of Tanisha's mixed doubles partnership with Dhruv. Now up to world No 17, they were India's last standing contenders at the Asia Championships this month in Ningbo and have been building their levels up steadily. Two singles wins, plus an upset or two in mixed doubles, would be India's potential pathway to three wins out of the five matches in a tie.
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It is worth noting that Indonesia and Denmark are not at their strongest either, but still boast better depth across disciplines. Anthony Ginting has been out of action for a while, and Indonesia recently lost Paris Olympics medallist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung as well. But with Jonatan Christie leading the charge, and an abundance of talent in doubles disciplines, they start as outright favourites in the group.
This means India have a must-win, unofficial knockout match as early as Day 1. Sindhu, Lakshya and Co must simply beat Denmark to stay in contention.
Former Danish coach and commentator Steen Pedersen predicts a close one. 'Denmark travel to Xiamen without Viktor Axelsen, Rasmus Gemke, Frederik Sogaard and Mia Blichfeldt. WD of Thygesen/Fruergaard is retired and Astrup/Rasmussen has looked off form since Rasmussen's injury. Uphill task for Danes as the first match vs India looks like a thriller,' Pedersen wrote on X.
If Sindhu can hold her end of the bargain, and whoever is selected for men's singles can pull off an upset against Anders Antonsen, it could get interesting.
But beyond their chances of progressing through to the knockouts, this tournament gives an opportunity to the Indian contingent to find a spark or two in what has been a disappointing year so far. You never know, these team events tend to sometimes bring out something extra in players. An atmosphere that they don't otherwise find themselves in on the tour.
India's squad:
India's Group D schedule: (all ties start at 2.30 pm IST)
