After a lull, top level badminton returns this week with the second Superseries event of the BWF calendar. The Siri Fort Complex in New Delhi is all set to host the 10th edition of the India Open - the biggest annual international badminton event in the country.
Excitement is at its peak for the shuttle sport fans to see some of the biggest names in action which include the top two Indian badminton players - Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Having made it to the quarter-finals of the All England Championships just two weeks back, they have both brightened their prospects for a successful season.
However, the draw gods haven't been too kind this time and have placed them both in the same half which sets them up for a possible quarter-final showdown.
The Syed Modi International champion, Sindhu, seeded third, was supposed to kick off her campaign against the Singaporean Xiaoyu Liang but the latter has made a late withdrawal from the tournament. After a second round meeting with the 61st ranked Japanese Saena Kawakami, the 21-year-old will potentially be up against her senior compatriot and two-time champion Saina Nehwal in what would be an absolute blockbuster encounter.
The sixth-seeded Nehwal, meanwhile, will start her title challenge against the World No. 39 Chia Hsin Lee. Her second round opponent will be the winner of the opener between Pornpawee Chochuwong and Hsu Ya Ching.
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Saina played the former as recently as January when she ground out a tough two-game win over the World Junior Championships runner-up in the final of the Malaysia Masters. The 19-year-old is already ranked 38th and Saina needs to be careful to not let the talented Thai settle into the match should they meet.
The winner of the much-awaited PV Sindhu vs Saina Nehwal contest then goes on to lock horns with either the second seed, Sung Ji Hyun, or the fifth seed and defending champion, Ratchanok Intanon, in the semi-finals. Both are coming off a deep run at the All England Championships. While Sung accounted for Saina en route to reaching the semi-finals, Intanon progressed even further, losing the final to the World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying.
With both having struck a rich vein of form just before the India Open, it goes without saying that the Indians have to be at their immaculate best to cross this hurdle.
In the final, the top seed, Carolina Marin, or the fourth seed and recently-crowned German Open champion, Akane Yamaguchi, will be waiting.
Besides Saina and Sindhu, three other Indians will be in action in the main draw of women’s singles but all of them have early obstacles. Tanvi Lad faces the seventh seed, Nozomi Okuhara, in her opener and 19-year-old, Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli, has the second-seeded, Sung Ji Hyun, up first.
National champion, Rituparna Das, will take on the 30th ranked, Chiang Mei Hui, in the first round. If she wins that one, the Olympic champion Marin will be looming in the next round.
Tough draw for the men
The Indian men’s singles players have been presented with a tough path. 2015 champion, Kidambi Srikanth, whose ranking has slipped to 31st after an ankle injury, has it slightly easier in the opening round as he faces a qualifier. In the next round, he will be up against the third-seeded, Viktor Axelsen, whom he had beaten en route to his 2015 triumph.
The current top-ranked Indian, Ajay Jayaram, meanwhile, has Axelsen in his very first round. Sameer Verma, who has been struggling since winning the Syed Modi International, does not have a hassle-free road either as he has been drawn to face the fourth seed Son Wan Ho.
Sai Praneeth has a qualifier to begin with, and will then have to face seventh seed Chou Tien Chen in the second round.
HS Prannoy, who made it to the Swiss Open quarter-finals, was scheduled to start off things against Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli until the World No. 32 pulled out. He is on a collision course with the sixth seed and Hong Kong Open champion, NG Ka Long Angus, whom Prannoy had beaten in their most recent meeting at the 2016 China Open.
In the quarter-finals, he should be squaring off against the second seed Jan O Jorgensen, who has a 0-3 losing head-to-head record against the Indian.
6 Indian teams in main draw of men’s doubles, 10 in women’s doubles
India has six teams in the main draw of men’s doubles. The top Indian pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy is up against the Japanese duo of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. Fresh from winning the Vietnam International Challenge title, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to carry their momentum into the India Open when they face the Danish team of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
The other pairs in the draw are Tarun Kona and Alwin Francis, M Anilkumar Raju and Venkat Gaurav Prasad, Jishnu Sanyal and Shivam Sharma and, Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran.
In the women’s doubles, as many as 10 home teams will be vying for the honours. Syed Modi International runners-up Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy open against a qualifying pair for a possible second round showdown with the fourth seeds Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
The rest of the local pairs are Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil, Komal Antil and Lalita Dahiya, Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant, Deepali Gupta and Pragya Rai, Juhi Dewangan and Saumya Singh, Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram, Gauri Asaji and Megha Morchana Bora, Sruthi KP and Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan and, Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Block Hazarika.
In mixed doubles, the seventh seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy begin their challenge against Indonesians Hafiz Faizal and Shela Devi Aulia. Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan, meanwhile, have a tough opener against the fourth seeds Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh.
