Sindhu gets favourable draw, tough outing for Saina as international competition returns in Thailand

new delhi,dec 30
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu has been handed relatively an easy draw but tough outings await Saina Nehwal as the Indian duo returns to international competition in Thailand, nearly 10 months after COVID-19 pandemic halted all tournaments globally.Sindhu and Saina didn’t participate in Denmark Open Super 750 and SaarLorLux Super 100 – the only two events which could be conducted since the BWF was forced to suspend the calendar after the completion of the All England Championships in March.Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events – Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world’s best return to action following a prolonged break. World champion Sindhu, seeded sixth, will open against Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt, while Saina, who has recently recovered from COVID-19, will face formidable Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, seeded third, in the first round.In the next tournament, Sindhu, who has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and has been training in London for the last two months, will meet Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the opening round, while London Olympics bronze medallist Saina will square off against another Thai star Ratchanok Inthanon, seeded fourth.The 25-year-old Sindhu has been seeded sixth in both the tournaments, according to the draws announced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday.In the men’s singles, a total of seven Indians, including former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, Olympic-bound B Sai Praneeth and young Lakshya Sen, will be participating in both the events.Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Denmark Open in October, will cross swords with fellow Indian Sourabh Verma in the opening round in the first Thailand event while Lakshya, who lost in second round at Odense, will be up against Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.
Praneeth will fight it out against local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen. HS Prannoy will take on eight seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap meets Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto while Sameer Verma faces Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito.Srikanth will square-off with local player Sitthikom Thammasin in the second event and Praneeth will take on Malaysia’s Daren Liew in relatively easier draws but Lakshya faces an uphill task against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Among others, Kashyap will face Gemke, Prannoy will play sixth seed and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, while Verma brothers – Sameer and Sourabh will meet eighth seed Zii Jia and fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, respectively.