Kolkata: Rio Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu will look to continue her good form from the World Championships, when she leads the Indian charge at the Korean Super Series, starting on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old, who had turned her bronze medals (2013, 2014) into a silver (2017) at the BWF World Championships just last month, will be the main player this time around in the absence of Saina Nehwal and K. Srikanth. Both the shuttlers decided to give this tournament a miss in order to prepare for the Japan Open, next week.
Sindhu will begin her Super Series campaign against Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi in the first round of the women’s singles category at the SK Handball stadium.
Meanwhile, in the men’s category, US Open Grand Prix Gold champion, H S Prannoy will face the sixth seeded Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong.
“I have played him (Angus) a few times in the past, had some tough matches. He is a tricky player, he is a mix of defence and attack and sometimes plays something out of the box, pushing to all corners, so have to move well. Let’s see how the conditions are in Korea,” Prannoy told PTI before the start of the tournament.
He further added, “It has been more than a month since I won the US Open so I can’t say the win matters much when you are playing after a long gap, if it were after a week then you know how you are playing but after a month it becomes new conditions and starting anew.”
Among the other Indian shuttlers in the fray, B Sai Praneeth will face Hong Kong’s Hu Yun, whom he had beaten at the Thomas & Uber Cup finals last year.
Sameer Verma will take on Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, while his elder brother Sourabh Verma face the winner of the qualifier match.
In the mixed doubles division, Indian shuttlers Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy face the fourth seeded Indonesian duo of Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto.
On the other hand, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki take on the eight seeded Thai pair of Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the women’s doubles.
The men’s doubles will also see the pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy play against a qualifying team. The duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will fight it out against the Korean Jong Woo Choi and Hui Tae Kim in order to qualify.