Indian hopes rest on PV Sindhu in Malaysia Open 750, Prannoy hopes to end title drought
Image Credit source: PTI
The tournament also sees the number one Indian men’s pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankyreddy and Chirag Shetty, who were ruled out of the last two tournaments due to injury, also make a comeback to the court.
India’s hopes will rest on star shuttler PV Sindhu in the Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament starting on Tuesday, June 27 in Kuala Lumpur. After the first round loss in Indonesia, Sindhu will also try to overcome the disappointment of that defeat through this tournament. Whereas in the men’s section, the eyes will be on the fact that the experienced players HS Prannoy (HS Prannoy) are able to maintain consistency in their performance or not. Prannoy has been waiting for the singles title for a long time, but in recent times his performance has been good. Apart from these, former Olympic medalist Saina Nehwal and World Championship medalist B Sai Praneeth will also present their claim.
Difficult challenge in first round
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, had lost to He Bing Xiao of China in the first round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament earlier this month. At the same time, the challenge in front of her in Malaysia Open will not be easy and Thailand’s Pornpawi will start her campaign against Chochuwong. By the way, Sindhu’s record is good against her. Sindhu has won five matches against Chochuwong while she has lost three matches. The Indian player, however, has faced defeat against the Thailand player thrice in the last five matches. Sindhu may face Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China if she progresses in the tournament.
Saina will also return to court
At the same time, 2012 London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal is also in Sindhu’s half and in such a situation, both of them may face-off if they go ahead. She will start her campaign against Iris Wang of America. If she wins this match, she may have to face former world champion and sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan. Saina did not take part in the Indonesia Open due to workload and in the only match last year against Wang, the Indian had won three games.
Will Pranoy’s wait be over?
Talking about the men’s singles, Prannoy has been consistently performing well and has made it to the quarterfinals of several tournaments since the World Championships last year. He played a key role in India’s historic title win in the Thomas Cup and then reached the semi-finals of the Indonesian Championship in Jakarta. Prannoy, who is eyeing an end to his five-year title drought, will face Malaysian veteran Darren Lew, who defeated the Indian at the Thailand Open in May this year.
Besides him, B Sai Praneeth, who represented India at the Tokyo Olympics, will face sixth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, while Sameer Verma will face seventh seed Jonathan Christie of Indonesia in the first round. Coming back from injury, former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Parupalli Kashyap will take on Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee in the first round.
return of sattvik lamp
On the other hand, world number eight pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are making a comeback after being ruled out of the last two tournaments due to fitness issues. The pair has to face the Malaysian pair of Man Wei Chong and Kei Wun Tee. In mixed doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy will face Robin Tableing and Selena Peake of Netherlands in the first round. Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan have to face the Korean pair of Kim Won Hoo and Jeong Na Yun in the first round.
