Mumbai, March 16: The prestigious All England Open 2021 will get underway on March 17 as the greatest shuttlers in the world will converge in Birmingham for the most prestigious badminton tournament. The All England Championship will conclude on March 21st and begin at 2:30 PM (IST) onwards.
The All England Open 2021 is the oldest badminton tournament in the world and also one of the most prestigious. It has been the venue for some of the most iconic moments in Indian Badminton, including the victory by legendary Prakash Padukone (in 1980) and Pullela Gopichand (in 2001).
This year's edition will again see the best in the business lock horns for the coveted trophy. The BWF Super 1000 event, in its 113th edition this year, will be played at the Arena Birmingham in England.
Indian stars in action:
Star India shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will be eager to put their best show ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Foreign stars in action:
The tournament is sure to deliver exciting Badminton action with top shuttlers like Nozomi Okuhara, Kento Momota and Viktor Axelson in the mix.
However, Indian fans will be backing Srikanth, Praneeth, Sindhu and Saina to put their best show and bring home the glory. A tournament win has eluded Sindhu as the World No. 7, who finished runners-up in the preceding Swiss Open.
The star athlete has not won a final on the tour since her gold medal-winning run at the World Championships in August 2019 at Basel. Srikanth, meanwhile, crashed out in the semi-final showdown to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.
An easy draw for Sindhu
In the women's draw, Sindhu's likely to have an easy start as her nemesis, Carolina Marin of Spain, has pulled out of the tournament. Saina, on the other hand, faces a tough start with a clash against Mia Blichfeldt in the opening round.
In the men's draw, expectations will be running high from Srikanth, Praneeth and other experienced players like Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma.
In the men's doubles category, the sizzling duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, ranked World No. 10, are expected to shine after their semi-final finish at the Swiss Open 2021.
The women's doubles will see the regular entourage led by Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy, with the pairs of Meghana Jakkampudi/Poorvisha Ram and Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam also in the fray.
The All England Open 2021 promises to be the one fans can't afford to miss.
Here are the details of the tournament and other details:
Category: BWF World Tour Super 1000
Prize money: $850,000
Channels: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP.
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