MUMBAI, May 31: India’s former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal, who missed the action in the Uber Cup and crashed out early from the Thailand Open, will return to the circuit with the Indonesia Masters, a Super 500 event on the BWF World Tour, to be held from June 7-12 at Jakarta.
Saina, who was not included in the Uber Cup squad as she did not participate in the trials conducted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in April, will open her Indonesia Masters campaign against Denmark’s Line Hoejmark Kjaersfeldt in the first round. Saina is ranked 23rd in the world while her Danish opponent is 33rd.
If she manages to beat Kjaersfeldt, Saina will run into old rival and nemesis Carolina Marin of Spain, the 2016 Olympic gold medallist. Marin, who is seeded third, starts her campaign in Indonesia Masters against a qualifier.
PV Sindhu, the other Indian to make the main draw of this USD 360,000 prize money event, will also start her campaign against a Danish player – Line Christophersen. Seeded fourth, Sindhu had reached the semifinals at the Thailand Open.
Meanwhile, in the men’s singles, four Indians – Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Parupalli Kashyap – have also made it to the main draw. (IANS)
