Shenzhen, Lakshya Sen will look to bounce back from the disappointment of his early exit at the World Championships but a tough opener awaits him when he spearheads the Indian challenge at the USD 1,250,000 China Masters Super 750, beginning here on Tuesday.
Sen, who became the first Indian male shuttler to reach an Olympic semifinal in Paris two years ago before finishing fourth, will face France’s newly-crowned world champion Alex Lanier in his opening match.
The Indian has enjoyed some notable results this season, including a runner-up finish at the All England Championships, and will be keen to regain consistency against a strong field after a shock second-round loss to world number 92 Garret Tan at the Worlds.
Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, faces Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu-jen after reaching the US Open Super 300 final in June, where he finished runner-up.
His campaign on the Tour after that has been patchy. It was interrupted by an injury-forced retirement due to injury at the Canada Open before he suffered a first-round exit at the Korea Masters.
In men’s doubles, fourth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be among India’s biggest hopes.
The former world No. 1 pair ended a two-year wait for an international title by winning the Singapore Open earlier this year. They will open against China’s Hu Ke Yuan and Lin Xiang Yi, who won the Orleans Masters title this season.
Satwik has been dealing with a recurring shoulder issue.
The duo returned to action after missing a few events only to make a third-round exit from the Worlds at home. The Indian pair will hope for a deeper run as it builds up to the Asian Games title defence in Japan.
India’s young women’s singles contingent will also be under the spotlight, with young prospects Unnati Hooda, Tanvi Sharma and Devika Sihag carrying the national flag.
Unnati, the 18-year-old from Rohtak, faces fifth seed Han Yue of China.
She became the youngest Indian to win a BWF World Tour title when she claimed the Odisha Open Super 100 crown in 2022 as an unseeded 14-year-old.
She has since added the Abu Dhabi Masters and Odisha Masters titles to her cabinet.
Tanvi takes on Denmark’s Amalie Schulz.
The 17-year-old from Hoshiarpur climbed to the junior world No. 1 ranking last year, a run that included a silver medal in singles and a bronze in the mixed team event at the 2025 World Junior Championships making her the first Indian to win more than one medal at a single edition of that event.
She underlined her rapid rise this year by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Taipei Open Super 300.
Devika, meanwhile, will square off against Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova.
The 21-year-old from Haryana, currently ranked inside the world’s top 45, arrives on the back of a title-winning run at the Thailand Masters Super 300.
Among others, the men’s pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and M R Arjun faces eighth-seeded Japanese combination of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, the 2021 world champions.
In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto will take on Thai pairing of Tonkid and Tonrug Saeheng, while Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will face Chinese Taipei’s Wu Guan Xun and Lee Chia Hsin.
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