Journalism of Courage
All England Open Badminton Championships 2023, Schedule & Fixtures: The 115th edition of the All England Championships will start at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena from Tuesday with a long line-up of Indian shuttlers in action.
Just a day before the action started, there were some significant pullouts, including Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who the Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty were going to face in the opening round. India’s Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal also withdrew.
You can follow our live coverage of Day 1 of the All England 2023 championships here.
Here is all you need to know:
You can read our preview of the All England 2023 here
Here are the opening round opponents of Indians at the All England:
Men’s Singles:
Lakshya Sen vs Chou Tien Chen
HS Prannoy vs Wang Tzu Wei
Kidambi Srikanth vs Toma Junior Popov
Women’s Singles:
PV Sindhu vs Zhang Yi Man
Men’s Doubles:
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty vs Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila vs Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang
Women’s Doubles:
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela vs Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai
Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam vs Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee
You can read our talking points surrounding the Indian contingent at the All England 2023 here
Two-time world champion Kento Momota, who once held the top spot in the BWF world rankings for over three years, takes on one of the most promising players on the circuit, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, in their men’s singles opener.
The men’s singles draw will also witness a first round clash between Chou Tien Chen and Lakshya Sen – both players were denied All England titles by the same man: Viktor Axelsen. Chou lost the 2020 final while Lakshya lost last year’s final.
In men’s doubles, the defending champions Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana will begin their campaign against South Korean veterans Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang.
In women’s singles, the clash to watch out for is Olympic champion Chen Yufei facing Michelli Li of Canada.
READ: In women’s singles, winning All England title will be tougher than the Olympics
In women’s doubles, the fifth seeded Malaysian pairing of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan take on the World No 11 from Japan, Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.
When it comes to the men’s singles contest, it is hard to look past Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, who happens to be the world number one, the world champion, and the Olympic champion. He has been in superb form in recent months, having made the final in seven of his last eight major tournaments. Of these, he has won six.
In women’s singles, it is difficult to look past Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, who is the defending champion, the World No 1 and the top seed at the 2023 All England Championships. She also beat second seed An Se Young 21-11, 21-14 to triumph at last week’s German Open.
In men’s doubles, the draw opened up considerably thanks to the pullout of Gideon and Sukamuljo.
You can find The Indian Express’ streaming guide here.
