Indian shuttlers gear up for Thaihot China Open
Defending champions Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will be keen to repeat their last year’s title winning feat at the Thaihot China Open Superseries Premier 2015, which gets underway on November 10 at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center in Fuzhou, China.
World No. 2 Saina Nehwal kick-starts her tournament as the top seed and will look forward to scripting history by becoming the first non-Chinese to win this premier event two times in a row. She could face stiff competition in the first round from Sun Yu, of the host nation, who stretched her to three sets this year at the Australian Open.
Two time World Championship bronze medallist, P V Sindhu will be starting her campaign against Ksenia Polikarpova of Russia. The duo’s last meeting was at the Denmark Open last year, where the Indian won in straight sets. Â
Indian lad Kidambi Srikanth, who rose to fame by conquering the mighty Lin Dan to win this title last year, will begin his tournament against Hu Yun of Hong Kong. The Indian will try to register his first win against Yun, whom he trails 0-2 in head-to-head tally.Â
The winner of Dutch Open Grand Prix 2015, Ajay Jayaram will face an impossible task- he opens against World No. 1 Chen Long of China in his first match. The Chinese got the better of Ajay in their last meeting at the final of the Korean Open this year.Â
Meanwhile, H S Prannoy will encounter a qualifier in his first round, and could proceed to play against World number 2, Jan O Jorgensen from Denmark.
In the doubles category, Indian men’s duo of Manu Attri and Summeth Reddy gave a walk-over to their Malaysian opponents, due to reasons unknown.
The women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa, recently inducted into the OGQ foundation and ranked 11th in the world, will be keen to prove their mettle. They will play Karumi Yonao and Naoko Fukuman from Japan in their first encounter.