Odisha Open 2022 | Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap to enter competition as top seeds
A file image of Saina Nehwal.
|(Twitter)
At the first Odisha Open 2022 badminton event, which begins on Tuesday, Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal and her husband Parupalli Kashyap will be the top seeds in the women's and men's singles, respectively. The competition will be held in the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack.
The power couple has recently been fighting a lot of injuries and trying their best to maintain their top form. As for Kashyap, he has suffered a calf strain, due to which he missed the India Open and the Syed Modi International. Currently ranked 26 in the world, he has gone considerably down the ladder from his best rank of 6.
Even Saina Nehwal is hoping for a comeback after she had to skip the Syed Modi International and lose to the upcoming badminton star Malvika Bansod in the India Open.
Malvika Bansod is unseeded at the Odisha Open, having fallen to PV Sindhu in the final of the Syed Modi International last week. Meanwhile, PV Sindhu has decided to forgo the BWF Super 100 competition.
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, who won their first mixed doubles championship together at the Syed Modi International, will compete. The pair is ranked fourth in the tournament. Top Indian duo Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will resume playing as top seeds in the women's doubles. Ponnappa withdrew from the India Open after testing positive for COVID-19.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of Indian badminton icon Pullella Gopichand, are seeded fifth.
Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and the men's doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are among the Indian shuttlers who will not compete at the Odisha Open.
The Odisha Open 2022 is the badminton calendar's third BWF tournament, and it will end on January 30. The performance will take place behind closed doors.
