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Two of India’s biggest medal hopes -- Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth -- will begin their challenge at the World Badminton Championships in Nanjing, China on Tuesday, as PV Sindhu will have to wait for yet another day to get her campaign under way.
Both Nehwal and Srikanth have come to this tournament on the back of early defeats at the Indonesia Open and will aim to bounce back at such a prestigious tournament. They couldn’t have asked for easier opponents to get a feel of things before the rounds get tougher.
Srikanth faces the 87th ranked Nhat Nguyen of Ireland in their first ever meeting while Nehwal takes on the unheralded World No. 72 Aliye Demirbag of Turkey in her second round, having got a bye in the first.
With Lee Chong Wei withdrawing from the tournament due to respiratory issues, Srikanth’s draw has opened up and he would be desperately hoping to lay his hands on a first ever medal from the World Championships.
The 2015 silver medallist Nehwal would be keen not to use up all her energy and register a fast win in her first match before a potential third round meeting with former world champion Ratchanok Intanon looms.
Apart from Nehwal and Srikanth, there is no other Indian singles player featuring on the Day 2 schedule. A host of doubles players from India will be in action at Nanjing, though. It will be a hectic day for the likes of Ashwini Ponnappa, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, N. Sikki Reddy, Kuhoo Garg, and Saurabh Sharma as they will be playing in both doubles and mixed doubles.
Here's all the information you need to know
Tournament name: Total BWF World Championships 2018
Category: Grade 1 - Individual Tournaments
Location: Nanjing, China
Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Broadcast: Live telecast on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD from 7.30am IST
Livestream: hotstar.com
Live updates: On Sportskeeda
Schedule of Indian players:
Men’s singles
(5) Kidambi Srikanth vs Nhat Nguyen first round at 8.20am
Women’s singles
(10) Saina Nehwal vs Aliye Demirbag second round at approx 10.30-11am
Men’s doubles
Tarun Kona and Saurabh Sharma vs Or Chin Chung and Tang Chun Man first round at 8.20am
Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran vs Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi first round at 9.10am
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty vs Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge first round at approx 3.10pm
Women’s doubles
Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram vs Debora Jille and Imke Van Der Aar first round at 11.40am
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy vs Chiang Kai Hsin and Hung Shih Han at 3pm
Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Block Hazarika vs Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun first round at approx 3.50pm
Mixed doubles
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy vs (12) Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja second round at 7.30am
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa vs (15) Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich second round at 10am
Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg vs (6) Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock second round at 10am
Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh vs (8) Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying second round at approx 1.10pm
(All timings in Indian Standard Time)
