Sameer Verma, back-to-back men’s singles champion in 2017 and 2018, has moved up to the Syed Modi India International 2023 main draw following the withdrawal of Frenchman Christo Popov.

The 29-year-old, however, faces a tough test in the opening round against World Championships quarterfinalist Wang Tzu Wei. A surprise third title will make Verma the tournament’s most successful men’s singles shuttler.  He is currently joint top with compatriot Parupalli Kashyap.

Top seed H.S. Prannoy has also pulled out and will be replaced by young Malaysian Sholeh Aidil.

Other players who have been promoted are:

Men’s singles

1. Sathish Kumar Karunakaran (eighth seed Rasmus Gemke)
2. Jia Heng Jason Teh (fourth seed Lakshya Sen)
3. Soong Joo Ven (seventh seed Toma Junior Popov)

Women’s singles

1. Unnati Hooda (top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong)
2. Tomoka Miyazaki (Lauren Lam)
3. Lin Sih Yun (fourth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan)
4. Gadde Ruthvika Shivani (second seed Supanida Katethong)

Men’s doubles

1. Ayush Agarwal/Nitin Kumar (eighth seeds Popov/Popov)

Women’s doubles

1. Ashritha Kandula/Vaishnavi Khadkekar (Cheng Su Hui/Carmen Ting)
2. Sri Sai Sravya Lakkamraju/Anagha Aravinda Pai (Debora Jille/Cheryl Seinen)
3. Go Pei Kee/Low Yeen Yuan (Paula Lynn Cao Hok/Lam)
4. Kavya Gupta/Deepshikha Singh (Liu Sheng Shu/Zhang Shu Xian)
5. Hina Osawa/Akari Sato (sixth seeds Margot Lambert/Anne Tran)
6. Arul Bala Radhakrishnan/Varshini Viswanath Sri (second seeds Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida)

Mixed doubles

1. Dingku Singh Konthoujam/Priya Konjengbam (fourth seeds Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing)

Click here to view the updated draw.

Syed Modi India International 2023 starts today, with the first qualification match scheduled at 2.30pm Kuala Lumpur time (UTC +8).

Fun fact: Last year’s edition did not crown a men’s singles winner. The final was declared ‘No Match’ after one finalist tested positive for COVID-19 and the other was deemed a close contact.