In an event of special significance for Indian badminton, the top-ranked duo will attempt to break a 23-year streak. For Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Paris has always held a special place in their hearts. It was in the French capital that the world's best duo made it to the finals of the BWF Super 750 or higher tournament for the first time. It is all the more remarkable that she reached three French Open finals and won two of them. Their victory on Sunday also came at the same venue as the badminton competition, which begins on July 26 at the Olympics. It's a really nice feeling. Paris has always had a special place for us. 

We always played excellent badminton here. It served as a second home for us,” noted Shetty.After winning their first championship of the year, they are riding high as they travel to Birmingham for the All England Open, which starts on Tuesday. 

In 2022, Rankireddy and Shetty made history by being the first Indian men's doubles team to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in the city. Rankireddy and Shetty, the current badminton flag bearers for India, have the best chance of ending their 23-year title drought given their excellent form. 

PV Sindhu is making a strong recovery and All England should give her a great chance to improve further. The last season of her great career was one of the worst due to injuries and a coaching change that didn't make the situation worse. Even though Sindhu has only participated in two tournaments after moving to Bengaluru for the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), her performance still carries the spark that brought her two Olympic and five World Championship golds. She eventually defeated China's top-10 ranked Han Yue at the Badminton Asia Team Championships to lead India to an unprecedented gold in Shah Alam. 

The 28-year-old used her ferocious style of play to beat American Beiwen Zhang and Michelle Li of Canada last week to reach her first quarter-final since October. Even in the round of 16, she moved well and anticipated when she defeated current Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei by a single game. 

Although she was defeated, it was clear from her performance that new coach Agus Dwi Santoso and mentor Prakash Padukone are doing a great job in her development. She starts against Yvonne Li of Germany in Birmingham. Similar to Sindhu and Rankireddy-Shetty, HS Prannoy has a good chance to qualify for the Olympics.