PV Sindhu to play at China Open next
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Reigning BWF World Championships title-holder PV Sindhu would be taking part in the Super 1000 tournament China Open, scheduled to begin from September 17. The championship would also be seeing the likes of Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, and other shuttlers competing.
After dominating the World Championships in Switzerland earlier this month, Sindhu would be a hot favourite at the $1 million China Open, which would take place in Changzhou from September 17-22. Her participation was confirmed by her father PV Ramana during their short visit to Tirupati.
Coming to the tournament as the fifth seed, Sindhu would be opening her campaign against 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui in a mouth-watering opening round. Sindhu has a 3-3 head to head record against the Chinese shuttler after they had last faced at the Indonesia Masters in January. However, having previously won the tournament back in 2016, Sindhu would hardly be nervous.
Apart from her, veteran Indian shuttler and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who won the event five years back in 2014, would come seeded eighth into the tournament and would be playing her opener against Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan. Nehwal, however, would also be competing in the $500,000 Chinese Taipei Open scheduled from September 3-8, where the top-seeded shuttler will be taking on South Korea’s An Se Young in the first round.Â
The men’s event would be seeing some elimination in the first round itself for Kidambi Srikanth has been pitted against B Sai Praneeth, while 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will face HS Prannoy. Srikanth has won the tournament previously back in 2014. The first round will also see Sameer Verma taking on Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus.
