'%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,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Saina Nehwal winning the bronze medal at the London Olympics, P.V Sindhu defeating the World No. 1 and London Olympics Gold Medalist Li Xuerui at the China Open and Parupalli Kashyap winning his maiden grand Prix Gold Title in December; these are all things of the past now. A new year has started and so have new challenges. This year, a number of tournaments will take place in the World of Badminton including the World Championships in August; but the first major tournament of the year 2013 will be the Victor Korea Open.
The Victor Korea Open, which starts from 8th Jan, is the first Superseries Premier event of the year. The event will be featuring all the top badminton players in the world including our very own Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram.
Saina Nehwal, who is currently World No. 3, will be up against World no 22 Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the first round of the Tournament.If Saina wins her first two matches, then in the quarterfinals she could be up against another Thai player, Intanon Ratchanok. Ratchanok, who is currently the World No. 9, defeated Saina in the Group match of BWF Superseries Finals last year.
Another Indian Women’s Singles player who performed brilliantly last year is P.V Sindhu, who is currently the World No. 19. She will face World no 25 Lindaweni Fanetri from Indonesian in the first round. Fanetri recently defeated Sindhu in the Final of Syed Modi International Grand Prix Tournament; so Sindhu needs to give her best if she wants to get through to the next round. But if Sindhu gets past Fanetri, then she could well face World No. 1 Li Xuerui of China in the next round.
In men’s singles category, Indian No. 1 and World No. 14 Parupalli Kashyap will be up against the World No. 32, Rajiv Ouseph, from England. If Kashyap wins his first two matches, then he could probably face world no. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the Quarterfinals. Kashyap, who jumped 6 places after winning his first Grand Prix Title last year, will be high on confidence in this Tournament.
Another Indian player, Ajay Jayaram, who is currently World No. 31, will face World No. 3 Jin Chen of China in the first round. Unfortunately, there is no Indian participation in Women’s Doubles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles category in the tournament.
