Sindhu to face Katethong; Srikanth, Sen, Prannoy face tough challenge

Indian mens singles players were handed a tough draw in the India Open 2023 as all three of them were bunched together in one quarter while former world champion PV Sindhu faces her last edition nemesis Supanida Katethong in the opening roundThe India Open part of the BWF World Tour series has been upgraded to the Super 750 category this year The upgraded status has meant that almost all the top stars of world badminton would be in action at the IG Stadium KD Jadhav Indoor hall from January 1722 2023 in New DelhiIndias hopes for a title encore rests on the trio of Kidambi Srikanth HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen but the luck of the draw means only one of them can cross the last eight hurdle from a quarter that also includes reigning World and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen Chinas Shi Yu Qi and Japans Kento MomotaDefending champion Sen will begin his campaign against compatriot Prannoy and the winner of their match is likely to run into Momota who is looking to hit the ground running in 2023 after struggling for form this yearAlso Read PV Sindhu feels grand in greenFormer champion Srikanth has to overcome the challenge of top seed Axelsen in the opening round with a potential clash against Shi who has made a strong comeback after being out of action for almost 10 monthsNone of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouthwatering opening round clashes to look forward to Third seed and former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore will take on the fast rising Japanese Kodai Naraoka while sixth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia will face Chinas Lu Guang Zu in the first roundIn womens singles former world champions Nozomi Okuhara of Japan and Carolina Marin of Spain will face off in the opening round clash as both of them were troubled by injuries in 2022 and have been unseeded at the India Open 2023Top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan will kick off her campaign against Spains Clara Azurmendi while Olympic champion and third seed Chen Yu Fei of China faces Canadas Michelle Li in the opening roundAmong the Indians fifth seed Sindhu faces Kathethong in a repeat of last editions semifinal clash which the Indian lost in three games The former world champion has been out of action due to a heel injury since the Commonwealth Games in August 2022 and has a potential quarterfinal clash against Chen YufeiBansod and Kashyap get a chance to make a mark Three other Indians would be in the fray in womens singles with Saina Nehwal kicking off her campaign against Denmarks Mia BlichfeldtUpcoming stars Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap have managed to avoid a top10 opponent in the opening round of what will be their first appearance at the Super 750 levelWorld No 30 Bansod will take on Thailands world no 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan while Kashyap world no 32 meets former India Open champion and world No 26 Beiwen Zhang of USA in the opening roundIn mens doubles fifth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty begin their campaign against Denmarks Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede ranked no 31 in the world and should be targeting a potential quarterfinal clash against top seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan as the first major hurdle in their title defenceAmong the other Indian pairs world no 21 MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila face sixth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen of Denmark in the opening round while Krishna Prasad G and Vishnuvardhan Goud P begin their campaign against Netherlands Ruben Jille and Ties Van Der LecqIn womens doubles 2022 All England semifinalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela will face Frances Margot Lambert and Anne Tran in the opening round while Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam begin their campaign against eighth seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of MalaysiaIndias only entry in mixed doubles Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Castro will face Netherlands Robin Tabeling and Selena PiekThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever