India Open 2018: Preview and schedule of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu’s first round matches

India’s star shuttlers will take the court as the main draw action gets under way at the India Open 2018 in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Indian challenge will be spearheaded by Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu in women’s singles and Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy in men’s singles.

Here’s a brief look at the first round matches of Nehwal and Sindhu:

(4) Saina Nehwal (WR #12) vs Sofie Holmboe Dahl (WR #55)

Head-to-head: First meeting

This is a match of complete contrasts. While Saina has rich experience, the Danish shuttler is only 21 years and has won only one BWF title so far -- the 2015 Norwegian International.

Without a doubt, Nehwal has a big edge in this matchup. Having beaten three top-10 players on her way to the final at the Indonesia Masters last week, she is now brimming with confidence and would surely look to build on it.

Nehwal is expected to get a win in straight games.

(1) PV Sindhu (WR #3) vs Natalia Koch Rohde (WR #43)

Head-to-head: First meeting

Just like Nehwal, the defending champion PV Sindhu too has a comfortable opener. Although it needs to be mentioned that Sindhu’s opponent, Natalia Koch Rohde has had a lot of success at the International-level tournaments. Her resume shows four titles at that level, but the last of them came in 2016.

Needless to say, Sindhu will be a tough nut to crack for the Dane. The World No. 3 will be doubly eager to get a good start this week especially after bowing out in the quarter-finals last week. She will be looking to finish the match in straight games, without exerting herself too much.

Here is all the information you need to know:

Tournament name: $350, 000 Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta India Open 2018

Category: BWF World Tour Super 500

Total prize money: $350,000

Venue: Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi, India

Round: First

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Match timings of seeded Indian players:

Women’s singles:

(4) Saina Nehwal vs Sofie Holmboe Dahl at 12.20pm IST

(1) PV Sindhu vs Natalia Koch Rohde at 1pm IST

Men’s singles:

(8) B Sai Praneeth vs Rajiv Ouseph at 9.40am IST

(2) Kidambi Srikanth vs Lee Cheuk Yiu at 1.40pm IST

(5) HS Prannoy vs Shreyansh Jaiswal at 1.40pm IST

Women’s doubles:

(6) Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy vs Shenan Christian and Riya Gajjar at 5pm IST

(7) Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram vs Saruni Sharma and Mayuri Yadav at 7pm IST

Mixed doubles:

(8) Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy vs Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja at 10.20am IST

Also playing:

Parupalli Kashyap vs Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus at 2.20pm IST

Sourabh Verma vs (4) Shi Yuqi at 4.20pm IST

Ajay Jayaram vs Tommy Sugiarto at 5pm IST

Sameer Verma vs (7) Anders Antonsen at 6.20pm IST

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty vs Chang Tak Ching and Hee Chun Mak at 3pm IST

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa vs Raju Mohamed Rehan and J Anees Kowsar at 11.40am IST

Channel Information: Live telecast on Star Sports Select 2 SD and HD quarter-final onwards

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