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Five Indians will be in action as the pre-quarter-final round begins at the BWF World Championships 2019 in Basel, Switzerland on Thursday. With most of the Indian shuttlers struggling due to niggling injuries and lack of consistency, 2019 hasn't been a season to remember for Indian badminton.
PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, and Sai Praneeth would hope to change all that and make a mark at this prestigious tournament. While the fifth-seeded Sindhu is the only Indian to win four medals at the World Championships, she has a tough task at hand today for she faces her nemesis, the ninth-seeded Beiwen Zhang.
Sindhu leads the 10th ranked American 4-3 in their head-to-head and her last loss to Zhang came in 2018. Clearly, this is one match-up that the lanky Indian needs to be wary of and she has to be at her flawless best if the Indonesia Open runner-up is to grab yet another medal from this tournament.
For Saina Nehwal, a holder of a silver and a bronze medal from this event, World No. 12 Mia Blichfeldt awaits in what will be their first-ever clash. The Dane has been making rapid strides on the tour this year and Saina is still making her comeback from injuries. But she should still be expected to pull through.
Srikanth, who has never made it past the quarters here, hasn't looked too sharp. In two matches this week, he's dropped as many games which should raise some concerns. The seventh seed meets the 12th seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen in their first ever showdown.
HS Prannoy has managed to snatch just one game in four meetings with the Japanese World No. 1 Kento Momota. And that is something that does not present a rosy prospect of Prannoy's chances. Having said that, the former World No. 8 did defeat the legendary Lin Dan in his previous match and should look to give the Japanese a fight.
World No. 19 Sai Praneeth and World No. 8 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting are tied at 2-2 in their head-to-head meetings. Despite having come to this tournament with a few good wins under his belt, Sai cannot afford to make any mistake against the rising Indonesian who has already established himself as one of the best young stars.
Here is all you need to know about the BWF World Championships 2019:
Tournament: Total BWF World Championships 2019
Category: Grade 1 - Individual tournament
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Date: 22nd August, 2019
Schedule of matches of Indian shuttlers:
Men's singles
HS Prannoy vs (1) Kento Momota at approx 6:30pm IST
(16) Sai Praneeth vs (6) Anthony Sinisuka Ginting at approx 7:10pm IST
(7) Kidambi Srikanth vs (12) Kantaphon Wangcharoen at approx 9:30pm IST
Women's singles
(5) PV Sindhu vs (9) Beiwen Zhang at approx 8:15pm IST
(8) Saina Nehwal vs (12) Mia Blichfeldt at approx 11pm IST
Where to watch the matches in India?
The matches will be live telecast on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Select 2 and Star Sports Select 2 HD from August 19.
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches:
Live Stream for the matches is available on hotstar.com
