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After an early loss at the Australian Open last month, PV Sindhu will be looking to make amends at the prestigious Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 tournament that has gone underway in Jakarta, Indonesia on Tuesday. The World No. 5 could not have asked for an easier opponent to start off her hunt for the title that she has never been able to grab so far.
The 21st ranked Aya Ohori of Japan will be facing Sindhu in the first round and has a lopsided 0-6 record against the lanky Indian. Sindhu's biggest hurdle is supposed to come in the quarter-finals in the form of Nozomi Okuhara. The Rio Olympic silver medallist was thoroughly outplayed by the Japanese at the Singapore Open in April and would be gunning for revenge this time.
If Sindhu can indeed surmount that barrier, her road gets even rockier as one of the two in-form Chinese, Chen Yufei or He Bingjiao will be waiting. The top half of the draw is headed by the World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying who could be Sindhu's opponent in the final, should the Indian manage to find her best form and make it to the summit clash.
While Sindhu remains India's only hope in women's singles in the absence of three-time champion Saina Nehwal, former winner Kidambi Srikanth will be spearheading the Indian challenge in men's singles alongside HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth.
Much like Sindhu, Srikanth too would be itching to get back to form at a tournament where he has fond of memories of winning in 2017. Srikanth did make it to the final at the India Open in March, but since then, he hasn't been able to progress past the quarter-final stage in three tournaments.
The eighth seed begins his campaign against World No. 10 Kenta Nishimoto, placed just one rung below him in the latest BWF World Rankings. But Srikanth has a healthy 4-1 edge over him in their head-to-head meetings, and that should give him the confidence to notch up a win.
Srikanth has a relatively hassle-free path after that, and he can eye a semi-final berth where second seed Shi Yuqi or fifth seed Chen Long should be posing a serious enough threat.
Sai Praneeth locks horns with veteran Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the opener. 2017 semi-finalist HS Prannoy takes on second seed Shi Yuqi, the same player who halted his run in the quarters last year.
Here is all you need to know about the Indonesia Open:
Tournament name: Blibli Indonesia Open 2019
Category: Super 1000
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Schedule of Indian players' matches on July 17:
(8) Kidambi Srikanth vs Kenta Nishimoto at 7:35 am IST
(5) PV Sindhu vs Aya Ohori at approx 8:50 am IST
Sai Praneeth vs Wong Wing Ki Vincent at 9:35 am IST
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponnappa vs Tontowi Ahmad/Winny Oktavina Kandow at 10:45 am IST
HS Prannoy vs (2) Shi Yuqi at 1:15 pm IST
Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy vs Liao Min Chun/Su Ching Heng at 4:30 pm IST
Where to watch the matches in India?
The Indonesia Open matches will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD from July 17.
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches:
Live Stream for the matches is available on hotstar.com.
