Former champions PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will overcome the ups and downs in the form with the intention of winning the title once again at the $ 350,000 India Open Badminton Tournament in New Delhi. After Saina Nehwal withdrew from this country’s top badminton tournament due to stomach upset, India’s hopes will be on Sindhu and Srikkanth in this tournament starting on Tuesday.
Olympic silver medalist Sindhu, who won the World Tour Finals title in December last year, has been ranked top seed after China’s top seed and former All England champion Chen Yuefei withdrew for medical reasons and is considered a strong contender to win the women’s singles title. Is going. Indus is also expected to benefit from the absence of Japanese players.
Sindhu made it to the quarterfinals of Indonesia Masters in the new season but was eliminated in the first round of the prestigious All England. However, after winning the title in 2017, she was successful in reaching the final of the India Open last year and will try to take inspiration from this performance.
Sindhu will start her campaign against compatriot Mugdha Agra and she may clash with eighth seed Mia Blickfeldt of Denmark in the quarter-finals. After their win in this match, they may have to face China’s third seed Bingjao. In this World Tour Super 500 competition, young players like Rushali Gummadi and Sai Jazita Rao Chuka will also present a challenge from India.
This tournament is very important for third seed Srikanth as he has failed to win the title for the last 17 months. 2015 champion Srikanth and former world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark are strong contenders for the title after defending champion and top seed Xi Yuki of China. Axelsen won the title in 2017 after making it to the finals for three consecutive years. Srikanth, who won four titles in the year 2017, could not win any title in 2018. He won his last title as the French Open in 2017.
Guntur’s 26-year-old Srikanth will start his campaign against Vincent of Hong Kong’s Wong Wing and may face compatriot Sameer Verma or B Sai Praneeth later as all three are in the same half of the draw. Fifth seed Sameer, who reached the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals, will start his campaign against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark while Praneeth will face the qualifier. RMV Gurusaidutt is also in the same half and has to face Thailand’s Sithikom Thamasin in the first round.
In addition to the men’s singles, HS Prannoy, Shubhankar Dey, Ajay Jayaram and Parupalli Kashyap will also represent India. Prannoy, playing here after taking part in the Asian Mixed Team Championship, will face eighth seed Kantaphon Wangcheron of Thailand in the first round, while Shubhankar will face fourth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia. Ajay and Kashyap, who have been battling injuries during their careers, will face Wang Xu Wei of Chinese Taipei and Lee Chyuk Yiu of Hong Kong respectively in the first round.
In men’s doubles, the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have pulled out of the tournament. Because Shetty has failed to recover from a shoulder injury. In their absence, the sixth seeded pair of Manu Attri and B Sumit Reddy will lead India’s challenge. The pair of Arjun MR and Ramachandran Shlok and Arun George and Sanyam Shukla will also represent India. In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy and Meghna Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram will be in the fray. In mixed doubles, there will be expectations from Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki.
