Sindhu, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, took a break due to the hectic schedule during the Games, but she will be eager to win.
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PV Sindhu, the reigning world champion and double Olympic medalist, will be looking for a good outing when she returns to competitive action after a break at the Denmark Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament, which begins here on Tuesday. Sindhu, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, took a break due to the hectic schedule during the Games, but she will be eager to make a winning return to the USD 850,000 event, which will also relaunch the BWF World Tour after a suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Sindhu, seeded fourth, will look for a flying start against Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit in the first round, Saina will have to work hard to get past Japan’s Aya Ohori. Sindhu, the silver medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will most likely face Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the second round, and a win there could put her up against fifth seed Korean An Seyoung.
All eyes will be on Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the seventh-seeded Indian pair, as they begin their campaign against the English duo of Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood. The duo has been in excellent form, winning all four matches in the Thomas Cup final in Aarhus, Denmark.
In the men’s singles, young Lakshya Sen, who finished second best at Dutch Open on Sunday, will look to continue his good run when he faces compatriot Sourabh Verma in his campaign opener.
Lakshya had failed to make the Indian team for the Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup Final after losing his only match in the trials and would be eager to prove a point.
Senior pros Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth appeared to be lacking in confidence during the Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup Finals, and they will look to outwit each other in the first round.
The winner will face world No. 1 and top seed Kento Momota of Japan in the next round, which will be even more difficult.
Sameer Verma, who had a good outing at the Thomas Cup, will look to continue his good form when he takes on Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, while former world No. 10 H S Prannoy will look to get into rhythm quickly when he faces Indonesia’s sixth seed Jonatan Christie.
Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will face fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, among others, will look to put on a better performance, while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will also be seen in action.
N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa of the women’s doubles team, as well as Meghana Jakkampudi and S Ram Poorvisha of the men’s doubles team, are also competing. In the mixed doubles category, Ashwini will compete with Satwik against China’s Feng Yan Zhe and Du Yue.
