BWF World Championships | Sindhu & Saina get Round 1 byes; K Srikanth gets easy draw as well
The Indian seeded pair of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu have both received Byes in the opening round of the 2018 World Championships that will start on July 30 in China. Meanwhile, fifth-seed Kidambi Srikanth will play unseeded Ireland international, Nhat Nguyen in the first round of the competition.
The BWF World Championships, along with the Olympics, is regarded as the most coveted tournament in the world of badminton. Top stars such as legendary Lin Dan and Zhao Yunlei of China have bagged the most medals over the years. This year will also see the top names in the sport of badminton go head-to-head in order to win gold at Nanjing in China, as the draws for the opening round were announced recently.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, both received byes for the first round of the competition and will directly advance to round two. Nehwal, who is seeded 10th in China will ultimately go up against the winner of the match between Switzerland’s Sabrina Jacquet and Turkey’s Aliye Demirbag. Meanwhile, Sindhu who is third seed for the tournament will face the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani and Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri whom she defeated at the Indonesia Open.
In the men’s singles event, Hyderabad-born Kidambi Srikanth will face off against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the first round of the tournament which is scheduled to start on July 30. 25-year old Srikanth, who is seeded fifth in China will be expected to progress to round two at the expense of the 18-year old Irish youngster. 11th seed - HS Prannoy will go up against Australia’s Abhinav Manota who was ranked 111 in the BWF rankings in the most recent update.Â
Sameer Verma, ranked 18th, was drawn against Lucas Corvee of France in the first round of the tournament. Verma has played the 37 ranked French national on two occasions previously having won the first match and lost the other, he will back himself to make it