Badminton stars ready to light up Singapore

World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, as well as newly crowned SEA Games champions Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Pornpawee Chochuwong, have confirmed their entries for the July 12-17 Singapore Badminton Open.

The trio are looking to win the US$370,000 (S$509,000) event for the first time, and while Olympic champion Axelsen will undoubtedly be the favourite to break his duck in Singapore, the Dane will face stiff competition from the likes of three-time world youth champion Kunlavut.

They will be joined by other high-profile players such as Singapore's world champion Loh Kean Yew, who was beaten by Kunlavut in the SEA Games men's singles final last Sunday.

Other top Thais who will feature at the Singapore Indoor Stadium are 2016 women's singles champion Ratchanok Intanon, as well as world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, the world's top mixed doubles pair.

Dechapol and Sapsiree had made the final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Sunday but were beaten by China's Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, who are the Asian champions.

China will be sending a strong team who will include women's doubles world champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan and Olympic women's singles gold medallist Chen Yufei.

Chen Yufei, who fell 21-15, 17-21, 21-12 to Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei in the Thailand Open final, will be hoping to go one better in Singapore.

India's 2019 women's singles world champion P. V. Sindhu will also be here.

The last two editions of the tournament were cancelled due to the pandemic. Tai won the women's singles crown in 2019 while Japan's then world No. 1 Kento Momota claimed the men's title.

Early-bird tickets for this year's event will be available until next Tuesday, with general sales starting the next day. Season passes start from $100 for a family bundle of two tickets while a single-day ticket starts from $5 for children and $30 for adults. All are available via Ticketmaster.