The Story of India Open
The India Open is a BWF World Tour Super 500 Grade international badminton tournament that has been held in India every year since 2008. The inaugural edition was scheduled to take place in Hyderabad in 2007, however, it was canceled due to the Hyderabad bombings.
In 2011, it was renamed the BWF Superseries tournament. Since then, it has been hosted annually at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi. Starting 2018, the BWF has classified the India Open as one of the seven BWF World Tour Super 500 events, as per the new BWF event format.
In the history of the India Open Tournament, some athletes hold the “record” for scoring the most titles. Lee Chong Wei has three singles championships and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo have three doubles titles.
For the women’s singles, Ratchanok Intanon has three single titles. Moreover, Miyuki Maeda, Satoko Suetsuna, Misaki Matsutomo, Ayaka Takahashi, Greysia Polii, and Apriyani Rahayu has two women’s doubles championships each. Ratchanok won her third championship in 2019, while Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu both took home their second.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir each have three mixed doubles championships.
After a two-year absence due to the coronavirus epidemic, the India Open badminton championship, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event, is being held again. From January 11 to 16, the competition will be held in New Delhi's historic Indira Gandhi Stadium.
Unfortunately, there have been a few withdrawals from the India Open badminton competition due to injuries and Covid-19 instances. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has stated that the entire England badminton team would not be competing. Parupalli Kashyap announced he was injured and will not compete in the India Open a few days before as well as England's doubles specialist Sean Vendy and coach Nathan Robertson both tested positive for Covid-19 during a pre-departure test. Moreover, B Sai Praneeth and Dhruv Rawat have been withdrawn from the BWF India Open badminton event after they tested positive for COVID-19.
Despite the withdrawal of several players, the competition was set to proceed as planned. The organizers also stated that all players must have a COVID-19 test performed at the team accommodation, and all of the tests have come out negative. The India Open 2022 is held behind closed doors due to the current COVID-19 crisis, and no supporters will be permitted in the venue.
Kidambi Srikanth, the former champion in men’s singles stated that “it is a perfect opportunity to start the year on a winning note”. Additionally, PV Sindhu also stated that “India Open has always had full house crowd with a great atmosphere as winning a tournament at home is always special for any player”. Both players are excited to compete in this competition.
Good luck and best of success to all of the players and teams competing in the India Open 2022. Hoping to see all the fans in person in the next India Open.
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