Huelva (Spain), Dec 1: Defending champion PV Sindhu has got a first round bye and faces the prospect of coming up against Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying and former world number one Carolina Marin in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively of the World Badminton Championships here.
Sindhu, who won a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, has been seeded sixth in the December 12-19 showpiece event. Sindhu faces the winner of Martina Repiska of Slovenia and Ruselli Hartawan of Indonesia in the second round.
If she clears the third round, Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu, who had beaten her in the Tokyo Olympics semifinals, will be awaiting her in the quarterfinals.
If she Sindhu gets past Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu, she could be up against Marin who had beaten her in the 2016 Rio Olympics summit clash.
Marin returns from injury straight into the World Championships and she will be playing in an arena named after her.
In men’s singles, former world number 1 Srikanth beat France’s Toma Junior Popov 21-14 21-16 in 42 minutes in his opening match of group B. Srikanth will next face Thailand’s three-time junior world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Lakshya Sen also won his first match of Group A after world number two Kento Momota of Japan retired injured when the scoreline was 1-1 in the first game. (PTI)
