After the first tournament of the BWF calendar, the Malaysia Open comes to an end, shuttlers plan their visits to the subcontinent for the 2024 India Open.
The 2023 edition of the India Open was full of surprises as well as brilliant performances by top shuttlers as Viktor Axelsen seemed untouchable at the top rank while Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy wrote history by becoming the first Indian pair to achieve the top spot in BWF men’s doubles ranking. A sport such as badminton never has dull moments, hence, it’s time to lace up the boots for the 2024 India Open.
India Open is one of the six Super 750 tournaments in the BWF calendar and it was founded in 1973. However, after the first edition, the tournament was suspended for four years between 1974 to 1978.
Nevertheless, after a few irregular editions, in 2008, the tournament became an annual event and then in 2018, it was categorized as a BWF World Tour Super 500 international badminton tournament. Moreover, in 2023, it became a BWF World Tour Super 750 competition.
Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win the top prize in the India Open in 1981. Moreover, only Saina Nehwal has won the tournament twice (2010 and 2015) for India. In 2022, Sat-Chi became the first Indian pair to win the men’s doubles title.
Former Malaysian badminton player Lee Chong Wei has been the most successful shuttler in the men’s singles category, winning the India Open on three occasions. In the women’s singles category, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon has reached the same peak (three titles).
Dates
The 2024 edition of the India Open will commence on January 16 with the Round of 32 and the Round of 16 matches taking place in the two initial days. Moreover, the final of the competition will be played on January 21. The BWF calendar’s first tournament, the Malaysia Open, which is a Super 1000 event, will end on January 14. As a result, shuttlers are expected to get less time to recover ahead of the India Open.
The tournament usually takes place on similar dates every year, and it’s one of the four events that start in January. The other tournaments remaining in the month are the Indonesia Masters (23 to 28 January) and Thailand Masters (30 January to 4 February).
Venues
India’s Lakshya Sen captured in action at the 2023 India Open
The 2024 India Open will be held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, located inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, India. The indoor hall has also hosted the wrestling events in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which also took place in New Delhi. The hall offers a seating facility for around 6000 spectators.
Before 2019, the tournament used to take place at the DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex, which was built for the 1982 Asian Games. The Siri Fort Sports Complex hosted the badminton and squash games in the 2010 Commonwealth Games apart from hosting the 2014 Thomas & Uber Cup.
Format Explainer
The India Open is played in five traditional categories of badminton, which are, Men Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. All categories follow a five-round knockout tournament format which commences with the Round of 32 (or first round) until the winner is decided in the final.
According to the official Badminton World Federation (BWF) regulations, the total prize money of the Super 750 tournament is US$ 850,000. Nevertheless, the shutters will be receiving the same prize amount as last year because BWF has made no change in prize or points distribution for the World Tour Super 750 tournament this year.
| Points Distribution | Prize Money (Singles) | Prize Money (Doubles) | |
| Winner | 11,000 | $59,500 | $62,900 |
| Runner-up | 9,350 | $28,900 | $29,750 |
| Semi-finalist | 7,700 | $11,900 | $11,900 |
| Quarter-finalist | 6,050 | $4,675 | $5312.5 |
| Round of 16 | 4,320 | $2,550 | $2,762.5 |
| Round of 32 | 2,660 | $850 | $850 |
India’s HS Prannoy has been seeded eighth in the men’s singles category and he will be facing Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen in the first round. If he manages to defeat Tien-Chen, he will face one of his compatriots, Lakshya Sen or Priyanshu Rajawat in the Round of 16.
On the other hand, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who are seeded second in the men’s doubles category, will be facing the Taiwanese pair of Lee Fang-chih and Lee Fang-Jen in their inaugural match.
Star Attractions
In 2023, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen proved his prowess on the badminton court by not letting the likes of Kodai Naraoka and Li Shifeng stand a slight chance of overtaking him in the BWF rankings.
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen has been world number one for more than 150 weeks
Axelsen has been in the top ranking for more than 150 weeks, moreover, he also won the China Open, the Indonesia Open and the Malaysia Open in 2023. However, Axelson failed to win the India Open last year as he lost against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final.
Conversely, An Se-young was crowned as the 2023 Female Player of the Year by the BWF for her dominance in the women’s singles circuit. She won the top prize at the China Open as well as the All-England Open.
Her arch-rival, China’s Chen Yufei also had a stellar year as she lifted the notable accolade of the Indonesia Open. Se-young will be defending her India Open title against the likes of Chen Yufei, Spain’s Carolina Marin, and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi.
Hence, the two would be looking forward to enhancing their dominance by triumphing at the 2024 India Open. Nevertheless, the Indian hopes will be rooting for Prannoy, Sen, and the 2023 Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna winning pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
The pair reached remarkable peaks last year as they won the 2023 Indonesia Open as well as the gold medal at the men’s doubles event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. PV Sindhu will be missing the India Open as she’s currently sidelined from action due to a knee injury. Sindhu is expected to make her return in February 2024.