Badminton News: Defending champion PV Sindhu will be looking to bounce back from hitting rock bottom in Thailand last week but in-form HS Prannoy will be brimming with confidence as the pair spearhead India’s challenge at the Singapore Open tournament Super 750 which will start on Tuesday.
Things haven’t been the same for PV Sindhu since suffering an ankle injury last August. He slowly returned to his best by finishing in the final and semi-final at the Spanish Masters in Madrid and the Malaysian Masters, which were his best results of the season respectively.
However, crashing out in the first round of the Thailand Open following a narrow loss to Canadian Michell Li was not the right way to approach the tournament, which remains her last title on the BWF World Tour.
And to make matters worse, PV Sindhu will face Japanese world number 1 Akane Yamaguchi, an opponent the Indian has faced in some of the toughest fights of her career.
On paper, PV Sindhu enjoyed a 14-9 head-to-head win ratio against Yamaguchi, but a lot has changed since the two faced off in Thailand last year and the Indian will really have to dig deep into his reserves to emerge victorious. this time.
Prannoy, meanwhile, enters the tournament having ended a six-year title drought, winning his first BWF crown at the Malaysia Masters.
The morale-boosting victory must have fueled the hunger of Prannoy, India’s most consistent singles player at present. However, things won’t get any easier for him as he takes on one of the most exciting talents on the circuit, the Japanese third seed, Kodai Naraoka.
After his first Thai semi-final of the season, Lakshya Sen also hopes to go further in the draw, but stands in his way “Mister Consistent” Chou Tien Chen, the fifth seed from Chinese Taipei.
Kidambi Srikanth, silver medalist at the 2021 world championships, will meet Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the first round, while Orleans Masters winner Priyanshu Rajawat will face Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.
In the women’s singles, London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal will face Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, an opponent the Indian has had success with in the past. But injuries and age have taken their toll on Saina and she hasn’t beaten the former world champion from Thailand on the last two occasions.
In men’s doubles, world number 4 Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who won the French Open Super 750 last year, will face Japanese duo Akira Koga and Taichi Saito, while MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will face the French duo Lucas Corvée and Ronan Labar.
Combined women’s doubles Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand will face Hong Kong pair Yeung Nga Ting/yeung Pui Lam in the first round.
The Super 750 tournament is a rung below the top-class Super 1000 event in badminton’s world governing body’s annual calendar.
Tags: PV Sindhu, Akane Yamaguchi, Singapore Open 2023
