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Image Source : GETTY IMAGES Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu has been handed comparatively a straightforward draw however powerful outings await Saina Nehwal because the Indian duo returns to worldwide competitors in Thailand, almost 10 months after COVID-19 pandemic halted all tournaments globally.
Sindhu and Saina did not take part in Denmark Open Super 750 and SaarLorLux Super 100 — the one two occasions which could possibly be performed since BWF was pressured to droop the calendar after the completion of the All England Championships in March.
Now all eyes are on the 2 Super 1000 occasions — Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) because the world’s finest returns to motion following a chronic break.
World champion Sindhu, seeded sixth, will open towards Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt, whereas Saina, who has lately recovered from COVID-19, will face formidable Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, seeded third, within the first spherical.
In the subsequent event, Sindhu, who has certified for the Tokyo Olympics and has been coaching in London for the final two months, will meet Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan within the opening spherical, whereas London Olympics bronze medallist Saina will sq. off towards one other Thai star participant Ratchanok Inthanon, seeded fourth.
The 25-year-old Sindhu has been seeded sixth in each the tournaments, in line with the attracts introduced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday.
In the lads’s singles, a complete of seven Indians, together with former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, Olympic-bound B Sai Praneeth and younger Lakshya Sen, will probably be collaborating in each the occasions.
Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Denmark Open in October, will cross swords with fellow Indian Sourabh Verma within the opening spherical within the first Thailand occasion whereas Lakshya, who misplaced in second spherical at Odense, will probably be up towards Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.
Praneeth will battle it out towards native participant Kantaphon Wangcharoen.
HS Prannoy will tackle eight seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap meets Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto whereas Sameer Verma faces Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito.
Srikanth will sq. up towards native participant Sitthikom Thammasin within the second occasion and Praneeth will tackle Malaysia’s Daren Liew in comparatively simpler attracts however Lakshya faces an uphill activity towards second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
Among others, Kashyap will face Gemke, Prannoy will face off sixth seed and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, whereas Verma brothers — Sameer and Sourabh will meet eight seed Zii Jia and fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia respectively.
Indian males’s pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who’ve additionally certified for the Tokyo Games, will face Korean mixture of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae within the first occasion, whereas it will likely be an all-Indian duel within the second event with the world no 10 pair taking over Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy.
Thailand has been coping with pro-democracy protest actions and has lately seen a spike in COVID-19 instances as nicely. However, BWF stated “The YONEX Thailand Open and TOYOTA Thailand Open, plus the season ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals will go ahead as planned, with the world’s best badminton players to ascend on Bangkok, Thailand.”
Chinese gamers will, nevertheless, miss the 2 occasions. “Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) has also confirmed the withdrawal of its team from both tournaments,” The world governing physique stated in an announcement.
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