India have been taking rapid strides in world badminton, with shuttlers such as Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth winning titles on a consistent basis. Other Indian shuttlers such as PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap H.S. Prannoy have also been doing relatively well, bringing laurels to India.
These crop of shuttlers will face their biggest test in the 22nd edition of the World Badminton Championships in Indonesia, which starts from 10 August.
Though the competition has become an annual event since 2006, it is one of the biggest tournaments in badminton, which witnesses top players from the world in action.
Players give it their all to be crowned 'World Champion'.
Saina Nehwal might have been seeded second for the World Badminton Championships, but she will be facing stiff competition from the likes of Chinese Li Xuerui and Wang Shixian, top seed Carolina Marin and Ratchanok Intanon, amongst other top female shuttlers.
India's PV Sindhu has been seeded 11th in the competition and one cannot have high hopes from her considering she has been injured for most of the season. Sindhu could not even participate in All England and India Open.
Hence, the onus is on Saina Nehwal, who has not won a medal in the World Championships so far. This might come as a surprise to many, but the shuttler has not managed to go beyond the quarter-final stage.
But there are plenty of hopes from Saina this time after her good run so far in the year, as she has won the India Super Series, Indian Open Grand Prix Gold and a runners up finish in the All England Open.
Apart from Saina, India will also be keeping a close eye on men's singles, where Kidambi Srikanth has been exceptional, as a result of which the Indian has been seeded third in the competition.
Srikanth won high-profiled competition such as the Swiss Open and the Indian Open, which has boosted his confidence to take on some of the best in the business.
The other two Indians, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy, have been seeded 10th and 11th, respectively. Both these players have it in them to thrash the big players of the world, as witnessed in the recent past.
In women's doubles, India's badminton duo Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta, who have been seeded 13, must be confident after having put some prolific shuttle display to win the Canada Open last month. It was their first title after the duo decided to split after 2012 Olympics and later again played together.
The pair have already won a bronze medal in the 2011 World Championships and the duo will be eager to improve upon the record this time around. Pradnya Gadre/N. Sikki Reddy and Dhanya Nair/Mohita Sahdev are the two other pairs from India.
The men's doubles pair consists of Pranaav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar and Manu Attri /B. Sumeeth Reddy, while Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan and Tarun Kona/N. Sikki Reddy form the mixed doubles pair.
