No one has been able to snatch the title from Sindhu this year even though more than half of the season is already over. She hasn’t been on a winning streak in over a week since returning from a five-month long injury layoff following an ankle stress fracture.
Yeosu (Korea), July 17: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to continue their quest for the first title of the season as they begin their campaign at the Korea Open, which has lost some sheen following the withdrawal of some key players including Lakshya Sen.
No one has been able to snatch the title from Sindhu this year even though more than half of the season is already over. She hasn’t been on a winning streak in over a week since returning from a five-month long injury layoff following an ankle stress fracture.
The two-time Olympic medalist reached the final of the Madrid Spain Masters, his best performance of the season. She performed brilliantly when she reached the semi-finals of the Canada Open but made a quarter-final exit in the next event at the US Open, losing to China’s Gao Fang Jie.
The world number 12 Indian will look to make amends for her loss to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po when she opens her campaign in the Super 500 tournament. Subject to a favorable result, she is likely to take on Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China.
With former All England champion and new coach Muhammad Hafeez Hashim also traveling with her this week, Sindhu hopes to quickly make it to the Olympic qualification period that ends in April next year.
Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, has also battled tough conditions to reach the quarterfinals of Spain Masters, Malaysia Masters and Indonesia Open.
The former world number one will be hoping for a good show when he opens against Japan’s Kento Momota after training with his new coach Wiampi Mahardi of Indonesia this week.
While Sindhu and Srikanth eluded the title, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy managed to win Super 500 titles in Canada and Malaysia this year.
But this week, Sen will be out of action as he has pulled out of the tournament but fifth seed Prannoy will be hoping to maintain his form when he opens against Belgium’s Julien Caragi, who will be beaten by India’s Sameer Verma. Was promoted after his retirement.
All eyes will also be on Indonesia Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty when they take on Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh and Kitinpong Kedren in the men’s doubles.
The third seeded Indian pair, who also won the Swiss Open Super 300 title, have been sensational this season and will be one of the favorites to clinch another title.
The men’s singles draw will also feature reigning Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat, national champion Mithun Manjunath and 2022 Odisha Open winner Kiran George.
While Rajawat will face a qualifier, Mithun will take on Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia and Kiran will take on Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.
In women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod will face a tough challenge against China’s Zhang Yi Man and Olympic silver medalist Tai Tzu Ying respectively.
Ashmita Chaliha, Tasnim Mir and Tanya Hemanth were also promoted to the main draw after multiple withdrawals in the women’s draw.
Among others, the men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala have also pulled out but MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are in the fray.
Arjun and Dhruv will face the eighth seeded Chinese pair of Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will also be hoping for a good show. The pair were given a walkover by their first round opponents, Bulgarian sisters Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva.
The world number 18 pair will take on the second seeded Korean pair of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee in the second round.
However, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, and the Panda sisters – Rutaparna and Swetaparna – pulled out at the last moment.
N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini will also pair up with their respective partners Rohan Kapoor and B Sumeeth Reddy in the mixed doubles event.
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