French Open Super 750 badminton tournament starts on 5 March (Tuesday) at the Adidas arena at Porte de la Chapelle in Paris and the Indian badminton’s biggest shuttlers will return to action with the competition which will be played at the venue of Paris Olympics 2024. India’s best bet of a top of the podium finish will be men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the French Open in 2022, but have finished runner-up in their last three tournaments – 2023 China Masters Super 750 in November, Malaysia Open Super 1000 and India Open Super 750 events in January.

They start their campign against Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia.

PV Sindhu, who led India women to maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships gold medal last month, will play her first match against Canada’s Michelle Li and an opening win will see her likely face Spain’s Carolina Marin for the first time since their controversial match in Denmark Open semi-final.

Men’s singles players will also have their task cut out in the tournament. Lakshya Sen faces Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in the opening match, while Kidambi Srikanth take on Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen. Priyanshu Rajawat will be up against world No.1 Viktor Axelsen.

World No. 7 HS Prannoy faces China’s Lu Guang Zu in his first match.

India’s women pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will take on compatriots Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa in the opening round.

French Open 2024 Schedule:

First round: 5–6 March

Second round: 7 March

Quarter-finals: 8 March

Semi-finals: 9 March

Finals: 10 March

Indian players at French Open 2024:

Men’s singles: Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat

Women’s singles: PV Sindhu

Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty

Women’s doubles: Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa, Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand