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The Indian badminton contingent will be ready to make a mark at the Denmark Open, a Super 750 tournament to be held this week from October 15 to 20. World champion PV Sindhu will spearhead the challenge along with former champion Saina Nehwal.
For Sindhu, this tournament is crucial as it will give her a chance to make a comeback after some disappointing performances post her big win at the World Championships. She failed to emulate that feat and crashed out early during the Asian swing. The setbacks should make the Rio Olympic silver medallist hungry and doubly motivated to prove that she has gone nowhere.
Sindhu is seeded fifth and takes on Indonesia's former world junior champion Gregoria Mariska Tunjung first. The youngster can be a tricky opponent but Sindhu should come through. However, it is the quarter-finals where she has quite a challenge on her hands.
A meeting with the top seed Akane Yamaguchi or the in-form Carolina Marin will help Sindhu to gauge her current level.
Meanwhile, Nehwal is seeded eighth and takes on Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in the first round. On overcoming her, the former World No. 1 could have the likes of Soniia Cheah or Kim Ga Eun to contend with.
While Nehwal has the talent and the experience to beat them, how her body holds up remains to be seen. A quarter-final showdown with second seed Chen Yufei should be a tricky affair.
In the men's singles section, while HS Prannoy is recuperating after a bout of dengue, India's medal hunt will be led by Kidambi Srikanth who missed the Asian swing as he was recovering from a knee injury. Srikanth's fitness will be tested when he meets the fourth seed Anders Antonsen, whose pacy game can cause problems for the Indian in his first outing since the injury.
Sai Praneeth, the World Championships bronze medallist, has been India's most consistent men's singles shuttler this year and has Lin Dan first up. While Sameer Verma faces Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan, his elder brother Sourabh will square off against Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands. Parupalli Kashyap has already lost his first match in the early morning session on the first day.
Here is all you need to know about the Denmark Open:
Tournament: Danisa Denmark Open 2019
Category: Super 750
Location: Odense, Denmark
Where to watch the matches in India?
The Denmark Open matches will be telecast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD.
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches:
Live Stream will be available on hotstar.com.
