New season kicks off with big storylines feat. Lakshya, Prannoy, Sat

It’s tough to chart their path ahead given how competitive the top tier of women’s singles is but fact os that crossing the first-round hurdle would be the small goal right now.

The 2025 badminton season is all set to begin with a bang on Tuesday with the Malaysia Open Super 1000 — the highest tier of the BWF Tour.One of these will be the quarterfinalist from this section, talk about a tough sector.All eyes in men’s singles will be on Lakshya Sen, the one with most potential who must make a bigger, and consistent, leap in 2025.Tanisha Crasto, who started off as more of a mixed doubles player till injury to her partner Ishaan Bhatnagar, is back in the draw with Dhruv Kapila. They’ve slowly been climbing up the ranks (world no. 69 now) and had reached the final of the Syed Modi together. They start against Ko Sung Hyun and Eom Hye Won and a win will put them in collision course with seventh seed Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi of China.

Men’s Singles

Once again there are three Indian pairs in mixed doubles.World no. 32 Malvika, who had a solid quarterfinal run at her last Super 1000 (admittedly just after the Olympics), will start against Goh Jin Wei. The experienced Malaysian has beaten her in their only meeting.It’ll be a challenge this time though, as they are they haven’t had much match practise lately. The duo has played only once since the Olympics — at the season-ending China Masters Super 750 — where they gave a very good account of themselves by reaching the semis. Yet, the time away and Satwik’s injury layoff showed itself in their game. They would have had time with Tan to get into a rhythm and work on areas of improvement, which will now be tested on court.

This time last year, the 22-year-old was languishing in a first-round losing slump. In 2025, he is coming off a Super 300 title at Syed Modi and a third-place finish at the inaugural King’s Cup, an invitational badminton tournament put together by the legendary Lin Dan in China.World no. 34 Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath, who have started making BWF main draws regularly and can grow into a good combination. They will take on Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh (WR 54) in an all-Indian first round match.Prannoy starts his campaign against young Canadian Brian Yang, in what is their first meeting. While some rustiness to be expected, it’s hard to predict a path ahead for Prannoy but a win could bring an even bigger challenge in the second round — seventh seed Li Shi Feng. The Chinese starts his campaign against another Indian, Priyanshu Rajawat who has been promoted from reserves.

Men’s Doubles

Another section where India has a sizeable representation this time with three pairs, two of them seeded, as the rest of the field underwent a pairing overhaul after the Olympics.

In singles, the return of HS Prannoy after a long injury layoff, Lakshya Sen’s development from dangerous floater to consistent player and the bench strength of women’s badminton in the absence of PV Sindhu will be the big storylines.

From an Indian perspective, this season marks a new era, transitioning after the Paris Olympics with new foreign coaches and a renewed goal of stepping up on the BWF titles pyramid. Winning big tour titles should be the new year resolution for most Indian badminton players.

As discussed earlier, Lakshya’s ability is without question, but what he needs is the mental wherewithal to take the next step — big titles — which will only come with consistent performances every week. The highest ranked Indian at world No 12, he will look to get back into the top 8, for seedings and better draws at big events.Here’s a look at the Indians’ draw and chances at the first tournament of 2025: