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Amidst the controversy surrounding India's badminton squad for the Asian Games, the second Super 1000 tournament of the year, the Indonesia Open, is all set to kick off in Jakarta on Tuesday, 3rd July, 2018.
As many as eight Indian shuttlers (four singles players and two doubles teams) will be in action on Day 1 of the tournament. Among them will be World No. 10 Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy, who begins his campaign against the legendary Lin Dan.
Saina headlines India's fixtures
Three-time champion Saina Nehwal will meet local hope Dinar Dyah Ayustine in the first round of the women's singles draw. The 28-year-old star, who has rediscovered her old form this season, is widely expected to beat World No. 48 Ayustine on Tuesday.
However, she cannot afford to breath easy as a win will put her against the World Championships bronze medallist and fifth seed Chen Yufei.
Another win there and one of the two top Japanese shuttlers -- Nozomi Okuhara or Akane Yamaguchi -- will be looming for the Indian. Saina has been at the losing side in her latest match-ups against both and will have her task cut out this time as well.
Prannoy up against Lin Dan
While Saina will be in action much later in the day, the first Indian to take the court will be Sameer Verma. The World No. 18 has been handed a favourable first round match as he faces Denmark's Rasmus Gemke, who is 10 spots below him in the rankings at 28. However, a win will. in all likelihood, set him up against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen.
HS Prannoy, who slipped to 13th in the latest BWF rankings, will have a mammoth task at his hands on Tuesday when he takes on former World No. 1 and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan in the first round of the men's singles draw.
In 2017, at this very tournament, Prannoy had been in a brilliant giant-killing run as he went through to the semifinals before squandering five match points and crashing out. This year, he will look to take inspiration from that performance and cause an upset on the opening day.
Prannoy, who makes a comeback after giving the Malaysia Open a miss, and Lin have met twice before, and the scores are tied at 1-1. Given that, beating the Chinese will not be impossible for the Kerala shuttler but he will have to be at his very best.
This match will be followed by a match between B Sai Praneeth, who missed out on India's Commonwealth Games sojourn, and World No. 15 Wang Tzu Wei. Wang enjoys a 3-0 head-to-head record against the 25-year-old Indian shuttler.
In fact, at last week's Malaysia Open, the Chinese Taipei star took just 32 minutes to beat Praneeth in the first round. Although the Singapore Open winner has been in a decent run of form, having made it to the semis of the New Zealand Open and the quarters of the Australia Open in May, he will have to put up a special show on Tuesday if he hopes to go through.
The doubles challenge
In the men's doubles, Commonwealth Games silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be up against Japanese combo of Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe while women's doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram square off against Indonesian pair of Agatha Imanuela and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.
Here is all the information you need to know about Indian shuttlers' matches:
Tournament Name: Indonesia Open 2018
Category: BWF World Tour Super 1000
Venue: Jakarta, Indonesia
Round: 1st Round
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Schedule of India’s matches:
Men's Singles
Sameer Verma vs Rasmus Gemke at 7.30 am IST
HS Prannoy (8) vs Lin Dan at 12 pm IST
B Sai Praneeth vs Wang Tzy Wei at 12.45 pm IST
Women's Singles
Saina Nehwal vs Dinar Dyah Ayustine at 4.30 pm IST
Men's Doubles
Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy vs Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe at 3 pm IST
Women's Doubles
Poorvisha S Ram/Meghana Jakkampud vs Agatha Imanuela/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti at 12 pm IST
Follow live updates on Sportskeeda.com.
