Lucknow, Nov 24 (UNI) India’s senior shuttlers HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will hope to turn around a difficult season as they return to home courts for the Syed Modi International 2025, beginning Tuesday at the Babu Banarasi Das UP Badminton Academy here .
According to Olympics.com, named after India’s 1982 Commonwealth Games champion Syed Modi, the tournament, which will be hosted at the Babu Banarasi Das UP Badminton Academy, is a BWF Super 300 event.
For Prannoy, 2025 has been a tough campaign. He has failed to progress beyond the second round in any of his 15 BWF World Tour outings this year. Eight of these have been first-round exits.
The 33-year-old, currently ranked 35th, is the best-ranked Indian badminton player in the men’s singles draw after Ayush Shetty withdrew from the tournament at the last moment.
India’s top ranked men’s singles shuttler Lakshya Sen, who lifted the Australian Open title last week, will not defend his Syed Modi crown this year.
World No. 42 Kidambi Srikanth, a finalist at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 in May, heads to Lucknow on the back of three consecutive first-round losses.
However, the former world No. 1 is a two-time Syed Modi International champion, having won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016.
Kiran George, Priyanshu Rajawat and Tharun Mannepalli will also look to make a mark at their home event.
In women’s singles, with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu ending her season early, rising talents Unnati Hooda, Anmol Kharb and Tanvi Sharma will lead India’s charge in women’s singles. Sindhu clinched the title last year.
Women’s doubles will see the return of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, world No. 14 pair and top seeds in the draw. The duo won the tournament in 2024, exited in the opening round of the Australian Open last week in their first event since July.
In men’s doubles, Sai Pratheek and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy will spearhead the Indian contingent as the second seeds, while Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde enter the mixed doubles draw also as No. 2 seeds.
