PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy keen to regain lost form at Japan Open

Fresh from winning their fourth title of the year at Korea Open Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their dream run even as the focus will be on the struggling PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy in the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament beginning here on TuesdayThe Indian doubles pair of SatwikChirag on Sunday stunned world No 1 pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in a hardfought final to extend their winning streak to 10 matchesThey have been in the form of their career winning the Swiss Open Asian Championships and Indonesia Open this year as the thirdseeded Indians face Leo Rolly CarnandoDaniel Marthin of Indonesia in the opening roundAlso Read SatwikChirag prevail at Korea Open win fourth title of the yearExactly an year before the 2024 Paris Olympics one major talking point in the Indian badminton circuit has been that of the wobbly form of SindhuThe twotime Olympic medallist and former world champion has been a shadow of her past post her injury rehab and has dropped to World No 17 following her first round exits in six of the 12 BWF World Tour events this yearThe latest was in Korean Open last week where she lost to lowerranked Pai YuPo under the guidance of her highprofile new coach Muhammad Hafiz Hashim the 2003 AllEngland championSindhu has been errorprone and struggling to finish points even against lowerrung players She will have to work on her fast attacking game to up the ante against her rivalsThis time Sindhus opening round hurdle will be Zhang Yi Man against whom the Indian won in the Malaysian Open quarters en route to her semifinal finish in May this yearWith the latest win Sindhu has a 22 winloss record against the 20th ranked Chinese and she would look to make up the lost groundBut should Sindhu overcome the first round hurdle she is likely to be up against her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying who has beaten the Indian nine times in a row in recent past in her 195 winloss recordPrannoy who won his maiden BWF World Tour title at the Malaysia Masters in May remained Indias topranked player but dropped two spots to 10thPrannoy who lost in the second round at the Korea Open last week is seeded eighth and pitted against unseeded Li Shi Feng of ChinaKidambi Srikanth is up against Chou Tien Chen of Chinese TaipeiIf they overcome their respective opening round hurdles Prannoy and Srikanth will clash in the battle for the quarterfinals where either of the them may face the toughest test up against topseeded Viktor AxelsenThe tournament will also mark the return of ace youngster Lakshya Sen who took a break and skipped Korea Open after winning the Canada Open earlier this monthUpcoming youngster Priyanshu Rajawat and Sen are up against each other in an allIndian opening round clashShould Sen get past Rajawat he may face a tough test in secondseeded Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the next roundMalavika Bansod is pitted against local challenger Aya Ohori while Aakarshi Kashyap will face topseeded Akene Yamaguchi in the womens singles opening roundAmong other Indians in the fray M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will square up against fourth seeded Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the mens doublesIn the womens doubles the Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medal winning pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will take on local favourties Sayaka Hobara and Yui SuizuWith PTI inputs