Jakarta: Several world-class players who struggled with injuries, such as Indonesian men’s doubles Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan and Japanese women’s singles Akane Yamaguchi, are expected to slowly return to their best form at the All England Open 2024, from March 12 to 17.
Quoted from the official BWF website, Hendra/Ahsan are drawn to face the world’s top-ranked doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty in the first round of the BWF Super 1000 tournament.
The duo, nicknamed “The Daddies”, last played a full match was at the China Masters 2023 held in November. They then participated in the Malaysia Open 2024, but the world no. 13 men’s doubles decided to withdraw as Ahsan suffered an injury during the second game of the Round of 16 match.
However, BWF believes that if Hendra/Ahsan can return to compete at the All England next month, it will be intriguing as the pair are the champions of the All England Open 2019 and finalists in the 2022 and 2023 editions.
Not only “The Daddies”, but several other players are also predicted to return to compete in Birmingham next month. Women’s doubles player and winner of the All England 2020, Sayaka Hirota, is reported to be recovering from a left knee injury. Hirota and her partner, Yuki Fukushima, will meet Denmark’s pair Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen in the first round.
Still from Japan, the name of former world number one Akane Yamaguchi is also in the drawing for All England 2024. She will fight in the tournament she won in 2022 and will face China’s representative Zhang Yi Man in the first round.
Another player aiming to forget her injury troubles at the All England 2024 is Thailand’s women’s singles player Pornpawee Chochuwong. Injuries have caused her ranking to drop to 16th in the world, and her place on the Race to Olympics list has also been surpassed by Supanida Katethong who is ranked no. 15 in the Race to Paris rankings.
On the other hand, players currently leading the Race to Olympics rankings, men’s singles Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) and women’s doubles Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan (China), will also strive to claim titles after a considerable break earlier this year.
