Tough opener for Saina at All England
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Birmingham, Feb. 22: Saina Nehwal faces world no. 1 Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying in the first round while P. V. Sindhu opens against Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong at the $ 1,000,000 All England Championship, to be held from March 14 to 18.
World no. 11 Saina lost to Tai Tzu at the Indonesia Open last month.
She trails Tai Tzu 5- 9 in overall head to head meetings, losing her last seven matches.
Sindhu is scheduled to face USA’s Zhang Beiwen in the second round. Zhang beat Sindhu at the India Open final last year.
In men’s singles, world no. 3 Kidambi Srikanth, seeded third, is up against France’s Brice Leverdez in the opening round but B. Sai Praneeth and H. S.
Saina trails world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying 5- 9 in overall head to head meetings, losing her last seven matches. P. V. Sindhu will face USA’s Zhang Beiwen in the second round.
Prannoy face tougher opponents in their opening round singles matches.
Singapore Open champion and world no. 14 Praneeth squares off against former world number one Korea’s Son Wan Ho, while world no. 11 Prannoy, who is on the comeback trail after a foot infection, clashes with eighth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
In men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who reached the Indonesia Open semifinals last year, face Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy meet England’s Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge.
In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy take on Germany’s Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler in the opening round.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki will have to tackle second seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan.
Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S. Ram face fifth seeded Japanese Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto.