Jakarta: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu will resume her quest for glory in the new season, while Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth aim to continue their impressive run when they start their campaign at the Indonesia Masters, starting with qualifiers here Tuesday.
Seeded second Sindhu has been a cut above other Indians as she claimed silver medals at all the major events — Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championship, before ending the year with the prestigious World Tour Final title, the first Indian to achieve the feat. After the engagements of Premier Badminton League (PBL), Sindhu decided to skip last week’s Malaysia Masters and she will begin her campaign against former Olympic gold medallist China’s Li Xuerui on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old from Hyderabad is expected to clash with reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin at the quarterfinals. Saina, on the other hand, had an impressive start to the season, losing semifinal spot at Malaysia Masters, which was the first World Tour Super 500 tournament of the season. The London Olympic bronze medallist will take on a qualifier in the opening round and faces the prospect of meeting Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, seeded fourth, at the quarters. Srikanth, who also entered the quarterfinals at Kuala Lumpur last week, plays his first match against Malaysia’s Liew Daren.
The eighth seeded Indian will be joined by others such as Sameer Verma, B Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy. Sameer had enjoyed a good run last season, winning titles at Swiss Open, Hyderabad Open and Syed Modi International. He also qualified for the World Tour Finals at the last moment and secured at a creditable semifinal finish. Praneeth also had a forgottable 2018 but dished out some good performances at the PBL and would look to translate the confidence in the international circuit. (PTI)
