Hangzhou (China), Dec 10 : Singles players have carried India's hopes in badminton for years before Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made their appearance on the scene. They were followed by the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand who too overtook the singles players this year.

It is the women's doubles pair that will be hoping to make waves as they make their debut in the year-end BWF World Tour Finals starting here on Wednesday.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will carry India's hopes as the country's sole representatives in the BWF World Tour Finals 2024 ' Group Stage, which will commence at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gym here.

On the first day of the event, Treesa and Gayatri will face the Chinese pair of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in their opening fixture of the group stages in the women's doubles category. The Indian pair had missed qualifying for the Paris Olympics in 2024 but showed promise in the Singapore Open and Macau Open, where they reached the semifinals.

Treesa and Gayatri have been placed in Group A along with Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China, Tan Pearly and Thinaan Muralitharan of Malaysia and Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan in the eight-team two-group event.

Group B comprises Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan, Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea, Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan.

The tournament will also feature some of the world's best singles players vying for the trophy, including Wang Zhiyi (China), Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Thailand), Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand), Chou Tien-Chen (Chinese Taipei), Lee Zii Jia (Malaysia), and Jonatan Christie (Indonesia), among others.

Group Stage: When and where to watch, date, time, live streaming, live broadcast, venue

What: BWF World Tour Finals 2024 ' Group Stage

Where: Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gym, Hangzhou, China

Live streaming on JioCinema

TV broadcast on: Sports18 - 1 (HD), Sports18 - 3.

/IANS