Sindhu looks to extend hot run
Changzhou (China), Sept. 16: World champion P.V. Sindhu will look to reassert her supremacy when she spearheads the Indian campaign at the $1,000,000 China Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament beginning here on Tuesday.
The World No. 5 Sindhu ended India’s long wait for a world championship gold at Basel, Switzerland last month.
Life after that historic gold has been all about felicitations and the Indian will now have to quickly turn her focus back on badminton as she remains the country’s best bet at the China Open, a title she had won in 2016.
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad will begin her campaign against China’s Li Xuerui, a former Olympic gold medallist and World No.1.
Interestingly, Sindhu had announced her arrival on the international scene when she had stunned the then Olympic champion Li at the China Masters in 2012.
Since then, Sindhu has reached the highest echelons of international badminton, while Li has been dealing with a careerthreatening knee injury that she suffered at the Rio Olympics.
The Chinese is currently ranked 20th but has a 3-3 record against Sindhu.
World No.8 Saina Nehwal, who had won the Indonesia Masters this year, will also look to put up a good show following her recovery from injuries which bogged her down this season.
Saina will face Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the opening round and is expected to clash with former world no.1 and her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals.
The Indian campaign lost a bit of sheen with the withdrawal of Kidambi Srikanth and H.S. Prannoy.
While Srikanth’s knee injury flared up during the world championships, Prannoy is down with dengue.
All eyes will be on B. Sai Praneeth, who ended India’s 36-year wait to become the first Indian male shuttler to claim a medal at the World Championships.