PV Sindhu in Saarbrucken. Lakshya Sen in Marseille. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in Mumbai. HS Prannoy and the women's pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in Hyderabad.After months of touch play and swishing their racquets in practice in their choice of cities to prepare for the Olympics, the showpiece is finally upon them with badminton action ready to commence at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena on Saturday.The weight of expectations could be overwhelming for the mixed bunch but the 'super seven' have delivered in the past against the toughest of opposition. While Sindhu, Rankireddy/Shetty and Ponnappa will carry the useful experience of having played at the Games previously, it will be a first outing for Sen, Prannoy and Tanisha.

First and foremost, hopes are high among Indian audiences from Sindhu, the most decorated Indian shuttler ever. India's flag-bearer in Paris, the only one among 117 athletes participating in Paris to own two Olympic medals, the only Indian badminton world champion - the 29-year-old's repertoire has led Indian sports aficionados to anticipate more laurels from her.But Sindhu's run into Paris hasn't been something to boast about. While she largely remained injury free for most of her career, an ankle injury in 2022 and a knee problem last year have pegged her back with her last title coming at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham two years ago.The world No.13 should easily make it out of her three-member group, but it is in the pre-quarter-final she will face her real test in world No.8 He Bing Jiao with the Chinese having an 11-9 head-to-head. If she clears Bing Jiao, Sindhu will likely face another Chinese, reigning champion Chen Yufei.

But the favourites in the Indian badminton contingent to earn India a medal are men's doubles exponents Rankireddy and Shetty, also known as Satwik-Chirag. The duo has been in sensational form the last couple of years, breaking all sorts of doubles records there are to be primed for success at what will be their second Olympics.Even last time around, they were the only pair to beat eventual champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei. A World Championship bronze in 2022 and an Asiad gold in 2023 mean that the world No.3 pairing is among the favourites to claim gold.Four finals this year - Malaysia Open, India Open, French Open and Thailand Open, including titles at the latter two made the third seeds top the world rankings for most of the season.Rankireddy and Shetty have been grouped with Indonesia's reigning All England champions Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto (world No.7), German world No.31 Mark Lamsfuss/Marvin Seidel and Frenchmen Ronan Labar/Lucas Corvee, the world No.40.

The top two will qualify for the quarter-finals where a draw will be held to decide the line-up for the knockouts.Men's singles will see two Indians - Sen and Prannoy - plying their trade in Paris but unfortunately only one will make his way into the quarter-finals, such has been their luck with the draw, provided both make it out of the group stages.Prannoy is likely to win his three-member group and slide into the Round of 16 but Sen won't have it easy. Though the world No.18 has No.52 Julien Carraggi of Belgium and No.41 Kevin Cordon of Guatemala, he will face a stern test against No.3 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, against whom he has a poor 1-4 record. Only the topper from the group will progress to the Round of 16, meaning Sen will have to trump the Indonesian for the first time in four years to progress.World No.19 Ponnappa/Crasto pipped Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly to the Olympics but their run at the Games will be full of hurdles. They have been grouped with world No.4 and 2022 All England champions Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida of Japan, 2023 All England champions, Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists and No.8 Kim So-yeong/Kong Hee-yong of South Korea and Australia No.26 Setyana Mapasa/Angela Yu. The Indian team will have to punch above their weight and upset a pair or two to reach the quarter-finals.

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