All England Championships | Sindhu, Sen and Srikanth begin India's quest for elusive title

While Sindhu, seeded sixth, will once again be in the reckoning, it will be unseeded Lakshya Sen who will be in focus this time

All eyes will be on in-form shuttler Lakshya Sen, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth as they look to break India's 21-year title drought at the All England Championships, which begins here on Wednesday.

The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy with Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Prakash Padukone (1980) still remaining the only two Indians to claim the coveted title.

While Saina had come close by reaching the finals in 2015, it remained elusive for Sindhu, who has otherwise claimed medals in all other big-ticket events such as Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

While Sindhu, seeded sixth, will once again be in the reckoning, it will be unseeded Sen who will be in focus this time, given the kind of build-up the 20-year-old had ahead of the Super 1000 event.

Sen has been in sensational form for the last six months as he added a runners-up finish at the German Open last week, following his title-winning run at India Open and his bronze medal feat at the World Championships in December last year.

The Almora shuttler will be the cynosure of all eyes as he steps on to the court against compatriot Sourabh Verma in the opening round.