Olympic and world championship silver medallist PV Sindhu finds herself with her best chance to break her title drought this season with world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying having withdrawn from the China Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Fuzhou, starting Tuesday.
Commonwealth Games champion Saina Nehwal is missing from the draw as well.
Sindhu, who has lost in as many as five finals this year – two of which were against Tai Tzu and Saina – was drawn in the same half as the Taiwanese shuttler, who has won eight titles this year. However, after losing in the final of the French Open just over a week ago, Tai Tzu withdrew from the China Open.
Sindhu’s first-round opponent is world No 30 Evgeniya Kosetskaya from Russia, who should not be difficult to beat. Sindhu’s first real test could come in the quarter-finals, where she could face China’s He Bingjiao. The only other opponent who could trouble Sindhu in her half, on paper, is Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.
In the bottom half of the draw, world champion Carolina Marin makes a return to the circuit after skipping the French Open. Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon and China’s Chen Yufei are her main challengers in that half.
With the in-form Saina missing the tournament, world No 59 Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka is the only other Indian in the women’s singles draw. The 16-year-old was promoted to the main draw from the reserves list and will face Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in the first round.
Good draw for Srikanth
In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth has got a relatively easier draw compared with some of his previous tournaments. He will take on France’s Lucas Corvee in the first round and is in the same quarter as fourth seed Chou Tien Chen.
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Srikanth could also meet the in-form Shi Yuqi should both shuttlers reach the semi-finals. However, Srikanth would take this draw happily considering he is not in the same half as world champion Kento Momota, who has beaten him five times already this season. Momota will clash with two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan in what is easily the match of the first round.
HS Prannoy has got a slightly difficult draw as he comes up against Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie in the first round itself. If he gets past Christie, he could face another Indonesian in Anthony Ginting in the second round. Prannoy is in the same quarter as Shi Yuqi.
Srikanth and Prannoy are the only Indians in the men’s singles draw as Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth have opted to skip the tournament.
Difficult draws for doubles players
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will need to draw some inspiration from their run to the French Open semi-finals when they take on seventh seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark in the first round itself in Fuzhou.
Their compatriots Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy also have a difficult opener, where they will take on another Danish pair in Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, who are the sixth seeds.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy also have a tough opening match, against sixth seeds Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto. They are India’s only representation in women’s doubles.
Ashwini will also pair up with Satwik in mixed doubles and the two will face seventh seeds Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia in the first round. Sikki is not playing mixed doubles as her partner Pranaav Jerry Chopra has just returned to training after spending over a month off the circuit. Chopra was recovering from a shoulder injury and had also contracted dengue in this period.
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