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After a disappointing outing at the Japan Open Superseries last week, The Indian shuttlers will now head to Korea for the Korea Open Superseries that begins on Tuesday in Seoul. World No.1 Saina Nehwal will not feature in this tournament, but the country’s highest ranked Men’s Singles player, Kidambi Srikanth will be a part of the competition so will be Parupalli Kashyap.
Kashyap could face Hsu Jen Hao in the second round while Srikanth could play HS Prannoy in the quarterfinals.
Speaking of which, Prannoy will also have his work cut out against Chou Tien Chen in the first round so will Ajay Jayaram.
It is the Women’s Singles category though which would be of keen interest, since PV Sindhu, who has had a torrid time in 2015, will certainly have to raise her game and give her very best in order to progress through to the business end of the tournament. Her task would be cut out from the opening round itself, as she will take on Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
Along with Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will also have to put in a commendable performance in this tournament. The World No.10 pair were eliminated in the first round of the Japan Open Superseries and will look to put in a kind of performance which helped them win the Canada Open, earlier in the year.
They will be up against the home pairing of Go Ah Ra and Yoo He Won in the opening round. There are chances of them playing the pair who they defeated at the Canada Ope final- Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in the quarterfinals. Like the Japan Open Superseries, there will no representation for India in the Men’s Doubles category in Korea as well.
Pradnya Gadre and Sikki Reddy are the other Women’s doubles pair in the fray.
With the countdown having already begun for the 2016 Rio Olympics, every event will be vital for players to progress that one step ahead towards making the cut to the marquee event.
