'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwT/2gAIAQEAAAAAGv8A/8QAFAEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/aAAgBAhAAAAB//8QAFAEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAv/aAAgBAxAAAABf/8QAHhAAAgICAgMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDEQQFAAYHIcP/2gAIAQEAAT8A7l1zWaXRdf2EC5DR7YxYzxllD3KPRjIWkq+ZfhFlyplizyEDkLct/Pn/xAAYEQACAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIhIv/aAAgBAgEBPwCCyrP/xAAXEQADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgMA/9oACAEDAQE/ALXZHIG//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
World No.4 Saina Nehwal has a tough draw awaiting her as she prepares for the All England Open, which begins on March 6th. Saina is in the bottom half of the draw and is due to meet a qualifier up first, but the draw gets stiff from the third round onwards.
Although she might have a relatively easy second round – against either veteran Pi Hongyan or youngster Carolina Marin – it gets progressively more difficult from there. In the third round she’s likely to face the difficult Li Xuerui, who won the Asian Championships in 2010 after beating Saina in the semifinals.
Others in her half are Germany’s Juliane Schenk, Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun, and China’s world No.2 Wang Xin, whom she beat in December last year.
The top half of the draw has three Chinese – No.1 Wang Yihan, No.3 Wang Shixian and No.6 Jiang Yanjiao.
Saina’s compatriot PV Sindhu has a good shot at qualifying, for she has been top seeded in the qualifying draw. She will play USA’s Rena Wang up first, and either Lindaweni Fanetri (Indonesia) or Lianne Tan (Belgium) next. Should she qualify, she will be in Saina’s half of the draw and will play the difficult Chinese Taipei player, Tai Tzu Ying up first.
In the men’s singles, national champion Sourabh Verma too is in the qualifying draw and has an even shot at making it to the main draw. He plays Taipei’s Yi Hsuan Hsueh first, while team mate Guru Sai Dutt takes on Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov.
In the main draw, Ajay Jayaram has the privilege of facing world champion Lin Dan in the first round, while team mate P Kashyap takes on Germany’s No.14 Marc Zwiebler. Both Indians are striving to earn the country’s sole slot for the Olympics. Jayaram is No.27 and Kashyap is No.29.
In the men’s doubles, Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas have the unenviable task of facing up to the giant Germans Ingo Kindervater and Johannes Schoettler, while Jwala/ Ashwini have a relatively easy task against Agustin/ Maheswari of Indonesia. Jwala/ Diju too have a light task up first, against Chan/ Goh of Malaysia.
