Sindhu leads Indian charge in Saina's absence at Hong Kong Open
A lot of expectations lay on the Indian badminton contingent which will be taking part at the 31st edition of the Hong Kong Open, which gets underway from November 17-22 at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
The men’s contingent would be looking forward to turning around their fortunes given their poor show in the last few tournaments. Ajay Jayaram will yet again face his Chinese nemesis Chen Long in the first round. The Indian lost the previous encounter badly and would look for redemption this time, but will have to put his best foot forward- potentially by changing his defensive style of play and initiating a more aggressive game play.
Meanwhile, Guntur lad Kidambi Srikanth will be looking forward to change his luck as he faces Tian Houwei from China. The Indian, seeded 6th in the tournament, will play against the Chinese with a superior head-to-head of 2-0 and can definitely bolster his confidence with this game.
H S Prannoy who downed former World and Olympic Champion Lin Dan at the French Open this year, would love to go past the initial stages. His best performance has been a pre-quarter finals appearance in August this year during the World Championships. Prannoy will start his campaign against a qualifier.
In the women’s section, P V Sindhu faces an uphill task in her first round as she faces off against the All England and World Champion, Carolina Marin. The lanky Indian shuttler, trails marginally at 2-3 in the head-to-head stats. She has a good chance to equalize that record as Marin comes on the back of an early exit at the China Open.
World No. 2 Saina Nehwal has opted to give the tournament a miss this time around.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, the only Indian doubles pair at the event, will face stiff competition in their first match of the event when they face 8th seeds Jung Kyung Eun & Shin Seung Chan from Korea.
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