The biggest stage in badminton will be set up in New Delhi, India from Monday as the best in the world compete at the BWF World Championships 2026. As India gets ready for one week of elite badminton, the big question for Indian fans will be about the prospects of their stars. Will one of PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty be atop the podium come Sunday?
Indian players have gone into the badminton World Championships as medal contenders for more than a decade now. The nation's ongoing medal streak since 2011 is definitive proof that we're in Indian badminton's golden period. Can they now showcase that dominance at home?
What will give the host's fans hope is the standout quality of India's top badminton players: how they peak at the major tournaments consistently -- Think Sindhu at multiple World Championships and Olympics, Lakshya at the 2024 Olympics and multiple All England Opens, Satwik Chirag at the 2023 Asian Games. The ability is there, so is the belief, but their performance next week will depend on the draw, form and a slice of luck.
The first two we can quantify (and we have below); the third we will know through the coming week.
First, though, the basic facts around Indian participation in the New Delhi Worlds:
The 2026 BWF World Championships will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from August 17 to 23. This is the second time India is hosting the marquee event after the 2009 edition.
India has 10 entries - 2 each in every discipline - and 4 of those are seeded.
Satwik-Chirag are fifth seeds in men's doubles, Sindhu is the ninth seed in women's singles, Lakshya is 14th in men's singles and Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto are 15th in mixed doubles. (The Worlds have a bigger draw of 64 in singles and 48 in doubles hence there are 16 seeds.)
The rest of India's squad are: Youngsters Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda in men's and women's singles, Hariharan Amsakarunan-MR Arjun in men's doubles, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi in women's doubles and Rohan Kapoor- Ruthvika Shivani Gadde in mixed doubles.
The brightest hopes for India will be the former medallists in the fray - Sindhu, Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag, while Ayush is a dark horse to watch out for. Their draws are tricky, but so is beating them when they are playing for the biggest non-Olympic title at home.
And now, here's the draw (and form) analysis of the Indians likely to chase medals:
Women's singles - Sindhu's quest for historic sixth
Sindhu jointly holds the record for most Worlds medals in women's singles and at the age of 31, appears in fantastic form as she looks to add a sixth for the outright record. She won the Japan Open Super 750 last month, has sharpened her famed attacking skills further and her fitness levels are near-unmatched on tour. At times, watching her peak this season has been a throwback to vintage Sindhu of the 2010s.
It'll be tough, though, because the draw has handed her a déjà vu of the last Worlds - requiring her to potentially go through 3rd seed Wang Zhi Yi and then 6th seed Putri Kusuma Wardani to reach the semifinals. In 2025, she knocked out China's Wang is a terrific performance before falling short against Wardani. Sindhu, however, has visibly improved in the last one year and beat the Indonesian earlier this year in straight games. If she manages that again, then she may run into the unstoppable force that is world No 1 An Se Young, who she has never beaten before but keeps getting better against.
Before all that, though, Sindhu opens her women's singles campaign against Ireland's World No. 141 Sophia Noble and will face either Bulgaria's Stefani Stoeva or Canada's Wen Yu Zhang in the second round.
The other Indian in the WS fray, world No 26 Unnati Hooda will start against Myanmar's Thet Htar Thuzar with 13th seed Michelle Li of Canada likely up next. Tomoka Miyazaki is the other seed in her section. A talented youngster who has been steadily climbing the ranks, she will look to use her underdog status to cause upsets.
Men's singles - Unpredictable Lakshya, Talented Ayush
Lakshya is probably the most unpredictable player in any draw, and that can be a huge compliment to him depending on his day. No one needs a reminder of how dangerous a fully fit and or fully dialled in Lakshya can be. Like the Paris Olympics, where the unseeded Indian emerged from the toughest group and reached the bronze medal match. Or the All England this year when he beat world No 1 Shi Yu Qi in the first round and reached the final. But there is a flipside to it, and Lakshya has not been in any semblance of form since March. With that caveat of unpredictability, we look at Lakshya's draw - where he has a potential encounter with second seed and former champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the third round and a win will pit him against 9th seed Alex Lanier for a medal shot. He will start his campaign against Austria's world No. 132 Collins Valentine Filimon and take on either Egypt's Ahmed Elgamal or Israel's Daniil Dubovenko before that.
Ayush, meanwhile, will feature in the most intriguing first round clash in the tournament - India's new hope vs China's world No 1 and defending champion Shi Yu Qi. Ayush has lost all of his three matches against Shi, the latest being the Badminton Asia Championship final where he was outclassed.
But the tall 21-year-old has that high, angled game that can cause upsets, and is the kind of player who learns from his mistakes. A loud home crowd will only add to his confidence and if he can better Shi early anything is possible moving forward. Watch out for a box office match on Day 1.
Can Satwik-Chirag go all the way?
Both Satwik and Chirag have struggled with injuries this year, they have retired from their last two competitions, they won the last event they played, and they remain the best hope for an Indian medal in Delhi, just by virtue of their big-match temperament.
They won bronze at the last Worlds beating their old nemeses and Olympic medallists Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang and Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in two days of spectacular badminton. This time, they will have the added fuel of a home crowd cheering for them. Satwik's shoulder seems to have recovered, and the prolonged rest was to peak for this event. The fifth seeds have a first-round bye and an easy enough second-round set up. Their real challenge will be in the third round when they meet 12th seeds Ramond Indra and Nikolaus Joaquin - the Indonesia Open finalists whom they have not played before. There is potential danger there, but also the kind of competition that could spur Sat-Chi early.
A win could then pit them against Liang-Wang of China (or maybe Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen) - both grudge matches. The likely semifinal and final opponents then are world No 2 Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia and world No 1 Seo Seungjae and Kim Won Ho (or maybe Chia-Soh). With Men's Doubles more than any other discipline, though, the top pairs are too close for the rankings to matter materially. Any of them, Satwik-Chirag included, could go all the way. What Indian fans will need to watch out for is if Sat-Chi are fit and if they can combat the flat game that is often their hamartia, they are the Indians to watch out for.
The other Indian pair are Hariharan Amsakarunan/MR Arjun, who start against Scott Guildea/Paul Reynolds and have 15th seeds Kang Minhyuk and Ki Dongju lined up in round 2.
Women's and Mixed Doubles - slim hopes
India's hopes are slimmer in women's and mixed doubles, based on form and India's relative lack of success.
Dhruv and Tanisha had stunned the fifth seeds at the last Worlds but couldn't sustain that momentum. There is no better stage to make a breakthrough run for Indian mixed doubles, but they have sixth seeds Guo Xinwa and Chen Fanghui this time in a potential third round tie.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela have been derailed by constant injury woes but qualified for the Worlds and will look to relaunch the momentum that had once carried them into the Top 10 once again. It will be an uphill battle for the returning pair.