Sindhu, Saina contest on the cards
NEWDELHI: India’s Olympic medallists in badminton, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, will resume their rivalry at the Indian Open World Super Series badminton tournament which begins here on Tuesday at the Siri Fort Complex. Sindhu, the 2016 Rio Games silver medallist, is likely to run in to 2012 London Games bronze medallist, Saina after the quarterfinals.
The two Hyderabad players were expected to face each other in the semifinals of the recently concluded All England Badminton Championships. However, both of them crashed out in the quarterfinals.
World No. 5 Sindhu, seeded third, has a slight edge over No. 9 Saina, who is seeded sixth and is making a comeback from a knee injury she suffered in 2016.
But Saina’s overall performance at the All England, highlighted by the scoreline of 20-22, 20-22 against World No 3 Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea, indicated her improving levels of fitness.
Saina begins her campaign against Chia Hsin Lee of Chinese Taipei while Sindhu will face Xiaoyu Liang, the Chinese born Singapore player in her first match.
The last time Sindhu and Saina faced each other was during the Premier Badminton League in January this year. Sindhu won that tie.
The clash between the two also assumes significance because of the different coaching systems they follow. Sindhu is currently under the tutelage of chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, who had also coached Saina before she switched to Vimal Kumar, a former badminton player-cum-coach.
The $325,000 will also feature Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin. The Spanish shuttler, who too failed go beyond the quarterfinals at All England, is also the La Liga ambassador and will be busy marketing Spanish football in India.
The World No. 1 Marin will open against Kim Hyo Min of South Korea.