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India's Young Guns: How Sankar and Isharani Lead Korea Masters Charge

Young Indian shuttlers Sankar Subramanian and Isharani Baruah are leading the national challenge at the Korea Masters. Most of India's top players including PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen are skipping the tournament due to various reasons. Sankar comes fresh from a major upset victory over Olympic semifinalist Lakshya Sen last week. The five-member Indian squad represents a new generation of talent aiming to make their mark internationally.

Key Points: Sankar Subramanian Isharani Baruah Lead India Korea Masters

  • Sankar Subramanian recently defeated Olympic semifinalist Lakshya Sen in major upset
  • Isharani Baruah leads women's singles as world number 53 in rankings
  • Five-member Indian squad features young talent including 17-year-old debutant Naishaa
  • Most top Indian players including PV Sindhu and Satwik-Chirag skipping tournament
  • No Indian player has ever won the Korea Masters title in badminton history
  • India will have no representation in doubles events at this year's tournament
2 min read

Korea Masters: 21-year-olds Sankar, Isharani to spearhead Indian challenge

Young shuttlers Sankar Subramanian and Isharani Baruah lead India's challenge at Korea Masters 2025 as top stars skip the BWF Super 300 tournament.

"Sankar had caused an upset by defeating Lakshya last week at the Hylo Open - Olympics.com"

Seoul, November 3

Twenty-one-year-olds Sankar Subramanian and Isharani Baruah will be spearheading the Indian challenge at the Korean Masters starting from Tuesday.

The competition, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 tournament, will be played at the Wonkwang University Cultural and Sports Centre in Jeonbuk State, as per Olympics.com.

The two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu is not taking part due to injury, while other stars like Olympics semifinalist Lakshya Sen and popular men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty will be skipping the meet. Other notable names like Ayush Shetty, Unnati Hooda, Aakarshi Kashyap, Anupama Upadhyaya, Sai Pratheek K are also not participating, while the veteran Kidambi Srikkanth, initially a part of the main men's singles draw, has withdrawn. From women's singles, Anmol Kharb and Tanya Hemanth have also withdrawn.

Sankar is world number 65 in men's singles, while Isharani 53rd in women's singles rankings, will be spearheading a five-member squad in South Korea.

Sankar had caused an upset by defeating Lakshya last week at the Hylo Open last week and is the lone Indian men's singles shuttler and will be starting off against top-seeded Jia Heng Jason Teh of Indonesia.

Baruah will be joined in women's singles main draw by world number 69 Devika Sihag, 20, who finished as runners-up in Indonesia Masters last month after loss to Nozomi Okuhara.

The Indian challenge will be capped off by 17-year-old Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye, who will play her maiden Super 300 appearance in the women's singles qualifiers. Notably, she also played a young Saina Nehwal in Olympic medalist's biopic film 'Saina'.

There will be no Indian players in the doubles events at Korea Masters this year. No Indian has ever secured a Korea Masters title.

Korea Masters 2025 badminton: India squadMen's singles: Sankar Subramanian

Women's singles: Isharani Baruah, Devika Sihag, Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye (Q).

- ANI

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Reader Comments

R
Rohit P
Disappointed that so many top players are skipping this tournament. We need our best players competing regularly to improve rankings. Still, wishing Sankar and Isharani all the best!
A
Ananya R
Naishaa playing Saina Nehwal in the biopic and now making her Super 300 debut - what a journey! Wishing our young brigade success. The future looks bright for Indian badminton ✨
D
David E
Interesting to see India's next generation getting opportunities. Sankar defeating Lakshya shows there's depth in Indian badminton. Hope they can make this tournament count!
V
Vikram M
No doubles representation is concerning. We need to develop more pairs beyond Satwik-Chirag. But let's focus on supporting our singles players for now. All the best team India!
S
Sarah B
Devika Sihag reaching finals in Indonesia Masters last month was impressive. Hope she carries that confidence into this tournament. Tough draw but our players can surprise anyone!

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