Road To LA: Sindhu and Lakshya To Make A Comeback at Arctic Open
PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will look forward to their competitive action on the main stage of the Arctic Open Super 500 in Finland, which begins on Tuesday, 8th October, 2024. It will be their first outing after a couple of woeful outings at the Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian duo will return after a two-month pause to regroup on the BWF World Tour. New Coaching Strategies for Sindhu Sindhu has revamped her coaching team – she has brought in Anup Sridhar as her interim coach and South Korean legend Lee Syun Il as a consultant. She needed this after her previous coach, Agus Dwi Santoso, left in the wake of her premature exit from Paris 2024. The sixth seeded Sindhu will start off against Canada’s Michelle Li and could face up-and-coming Japanese star Tomako Miyazaki in the next round. Lakshya Focusses On Fitness Lakshya Sen is using his off-time to work on his physiques. He was to take tests at Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Salzburg to understand where he is fitness-wise. Unseeded in this tournament, Lakshya Sen will meet Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke and would like a return encounter against seventh seed Chou Tien Chen, whom he won in the Olympics. Young Contingent And Absences The team is represented by the very much in-form Kidambi Srikanth, who will be competing in the qualification rounds after his injury comeback. The future of Indian singles looks bright with youngsters such as Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap. India will be missing HS Prannoy from their men’s singles as he will be missing the event due to fitness issues and change of coach. Also missing is the reigning men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. What To Expect At The Arctic Open? The Arctic Open is definitely a less crowded field and PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen should have a great opportunity to get back on their feet. Both athletes will indeed be under the prism of the camera because they would try to navigate through the pressures of competition and recalibrate their ambitions for the rest of the season. The Sportz Planet Desk,Atharva Shetye
