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Star Indian shuttler and London Olympics Bronze medalist Saina Nehwal has been given the top seed at the Swiss Open 2013, which will be held in the city of Basel from 12th March to 17th March. This USD 125,000 tournament is a Grand Prix Gold category tournament and is the second Grand Prix Gold Tournament of the year after Yonex German Open Badminton Championships.
Saina Nehwal, who recently lost in the Semifinals of All England Badminton Championships, will play the World No. 40 Sashina Vignes Waran of France in the opening round. If Saina manages to reach till the Quarterfinals, then she could well play the World No. 9 and 6th seeded Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei. Top two Chinese shuttlers Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan are not playing in this tournament.
World No. 4 German shuttler Juliane Schenk has been given the second seed while Korea’s Ji Hyun Sung is the 3rd seeded player in the tournament. Wang Shixian, who lost to Saina in the Quarterfinal of the All England Badminton Championships, is the 4th seeded player and the 17 year old teenage sensation, who recently defeated Saina in the semifinal of All England Badminton Championships, is the 5th seeded player of the tournament. Another Indian shuttler, P.V Sindhu, will play the 3rd seeded Ji Hyun Sung in the opening round.
In women’s singles qualification round three, Indian women shuttlers will be in action. Firstly the 20 year old Tanvi Lad, who is currently the World No. 111, will play the World No. 98 Japanese shuttler Shizuka Uchida in the first qualification round. Another Indian shuttler and World No. 125 P.C Thulasi will play the World No. 113 German shuttler Olga Konon in the opening qualification round. Lastly, Arundhati Pantawane, who is the World No. 104, will play the 91 ranked Taipei shuttler Ya Lan Chang in the opening qualifier. Only 4 out of the 16 players will qualify for the main draw of the Tournament.
In men’s singles category, Parupalli Kashyap, who is currently the World No. 9, has been given the 5th seed of the tournament. Kashyap, who recently lost to World no. 2 Chen Long of China in the Quarterfinals of Yonex All England Badminton Championships, will play the World No. 75 Taipei shuttler Yi Hsuan Hsueh in the first round. China’s Du Pengyu is the top seeded player of the tournament while Indonesian shuttler Soni Dwi Kuncoro has been given the second seed.
World No. 43 Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma will play the World No. 25 Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia in the opening round while K. Srikanth, who is currently the World No. 66, will be up against the 4th seeded Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark in the first round. Another Indian shuttler, H.S Pranoy, will play the Austrian shuttler Michael Lahnsteiner in the first round of the Swiss Open 2013.
In men’s doubles, World No. 51 Indian pair of Prannav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar will play the World No. 8 Thai pair of Bodin Isaara and Sudket Prapakamol in the opening round. If the Indian pair wins their first round match, then they could be up against the World No. 3 and top seeded pair of Lee Yong Dae and Ko Hyun Sung in the next round. There is no Indian participation in the Women’s doubles and mixed doubles category of the tournament.
