Saina Nehwal to play Thai Shuttler in the first round of All England Badminton Championships

In the Women’s singles category, star Indian shuttler and World No. 2 Saina Nehwal will be up against the World No. 20 Saspiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the first round of Yonex All England Badminton Championships which will take place in the city of Birmingham from March 10-15. This tournament is the Second Superseries Premier event of the year after the Victor Korea Open in January. Saina had never lost against the Thai shuttler in her previous four encounters. If Saina manages to reach the Quarterfinals then she could well face the World No. 6 Chinese shuttler Wang Shixian against whom Saina had a win-loss record of 3-1.

Indian teenage Badminton sensation and World No. 16 P.V Sindhu will start her campaign against the World No. 17 Thai player Busanan Ongbumrungpan. If Sindhu manages to defeat Busanan, she could face World no. 4 Juliane Schenk of Germany in the next round. Top seed of the tournament and World No. 1 Li Xuerui of China will start her campaign against the World No. 13 Yeon Ju Bae of South Korea.

In the men’s singles category, India’s Parupalli Kashyap will face the World No. 31 Hsu Jen Hao of Taipei in the first round of the tournament. Kashyap, who is currently the World No. 11, could be up against the World No. 6 Kenichi Tago of Japan in the second round. Another Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram, who is currently the World No. 32, will play the World No. 19 Chinese shuttler Wang Zhengming in the opening round. If Jayaram is able to overcome the strong Chinese opponent then he could most probably face the World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the second round.

In the men’s singles qualification round, four Indian players will be in action. World No. 51 Anand Pawar will face the top seed of the qualification round and World No. 34 Rajiv Ouseph of England. Saurabh Verma, who is currently the World no. 42, will play the World No. 49 French shuttler Brice Leverdez. If Saurabh Verma and Anand Pawar both manage to win the first qualification round then they will play against each other in the final qualification round. World no. 55 B. Sai Praneeth will play the World no. 46 Zi Liang Derek Wong of Singapore in the first qualification whereas the World no. 37 R.M.V Gurusaidutt will play the World no. 39 Tanongsak of Thailand.

No Indian pair has got the direct entry in men’s doubles category of the tournament, but there will be two Indian pairs who will be in action in the qualification rounds. Firstly, the World no. 48 pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar will face the World no. 60 Polish pair of Adam Cwalina and Przemyslaw Wacha in the first qualification round. The World no. 42 Indian pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu, who are also the second seeded in the qualification rounds, will play the Thai pair of Bodin Isaara and Pakkawat Vilailak. If both the Indian pairs win their first qualification round matches then they will play each other to get the entry in the main draw.

Just like the men’s doubles, no Indian Women doubles pair has got direct entry in the main draw of the tournament. In qualification, two Indian pairs will be in action; Ashwini Ponappa and Pradnya Gadre, who are 4th seeded in the qualification round, will take on the Welsh pair of Sarah Thomas and Carissa Turner. The second Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Prajakta Sawant will face the Thai pair of Artima and Peeraya in the first qualification round.

Jwala Gutta, who is playing her first international tournament after the London Olympics, will also be in action in the Mixed doubles event of the All England Badminton Championships. Jwala, along with her partner V.Diju – the current World Ranking of 39, will face the German pair of Peter Kaesbaeur and Isabel Herttrich in the first round. Another Indian mixed doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponappa will face the Indonesian pair of Fran and Shendy Puspa.

In the mixed doubles qualification, the Indian pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan will face the strong Korean pair of Sang Joon Lee and So Young Kim.