Modi tourney loses more stars, sheen
After PV Sindhu and K Srikanth, 11th seed Japanese Takahashi too withdraws from the women’s singles
LUCKNOW: Pullouts continued to bother the organisers of the Syed Modi International World Tour Super 300 Tournament on Monday as the qualifying rounds of the six-day event are set to begin on Tuesday.
Rio Olympic Games silver medallist PV Sindhu and silver medallist at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Kidambi Srikanth have already withdrawn from the $150,000 event for different reasons.
World No 4 Sindhu wants to focus on next month’s BWF World Tour Final in China and needs time to get ready while Srikanth is struggling with injuries. The trend continued on Monday.
World No 11 and third seed in women’s singles Sayaka Takahashi of Japan pulled out on Monday along with the thirdseeded men’s doubles pair of Takuto Inoie and Yuki Kaneko.
Newly-crowned champion at the Dubai International Challenge on Sunday, Vladimir Malkov of Russia was left stranded at the Dubai airport after he realised late that he didn’t have the Indian visa. Vladimir had beaten India’s Subhakar Dey 21-10, 21-15 in the Dubai Challenge.
“Sudden pullouts have made things a bit difficult for us as we have to update everything, including replacement of players in the draw,” a Badminton Association of India official said. “It will take time and I am sure we will update everything soon,” he added.
The presence of London Olympic Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal in women’s singles and defending champion Sameer Verma in men’s singles will now be the biggest attraction of the event.
Saina, who has won three singles titles here --- 2008, 2014 and 2015 --- will open her campaign against world No 112 Kate Foo Kune of Mauritius.
Young Chinese shuttlers such as former Olympic champion Li Xuerui, Han Yue and Zhang Yiman are likely to pose a challenge to Saina, the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
For Sameer Verma, the Syed Modi event is an opportunity to qualify for the World Tour Finals. “Retaining the title is on my mind as this will help me qualify for the World Tour Finals,” said Verma, who has been in a good form this season, especially after winning the Swiss Open and Hyderabad Open.
In Srikanth’s absence, second seed HS Prannoy would be hoping for some easy sailing. Prannoy will being against Thailand’s Adulrach Namkul and is likely to meet 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt in the third round.
Fourth seed B Sai Praneeth, who had won the Singapore Open last year, will take on Russia’s Sergey Sirant in his first match, while Subhankar Dey, who claimed his maiden title at SaarLorLux Open, will open against China’s Zhou Zeqi.
Among other Indians, the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy would also be hoping for a repeat. Also in action would be eighth seeded India’s top men’s doubles pairs of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who are the silver medallists at the Commonwealth Games, and National champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy.
The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will also look to put their best foot forward, while Ashwini will also pair up with Satwik in mixed doubles.