Kuala Lumpur: Rejuvenated after a month-long break, India’s top shuttlers, including PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, will resume their quest for glory when the south-east Asia leg of BWF world tour begins with the USD 7,00,000 Malaysian Open badminton tournament here Tuesday.
Srikanth and Sindhu had skipped the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in May to regain full fitness ahead of the hectic schedule which includes back-to-back tournaments such as the USD 1,250,000 Indonesia Open, USD 3,50,000 Thailand Open and USD 3,55,000 Singapore Open, followed by the prestigious World championship and Asian Games.
After bagging four titles last season, fourth seed Srikanth will look to lay claim to his first crown of the season when he begins his campaign against former World No.2 Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from a recurring heel injury.
“I have been working on my fitness after the Commonwealth Games. With many events back to back, my focus is to be remain injury free and give my 100 per cent in each event that I play. So looking forward to a good outing at Malaysia,” Srikanth told this agency Monday.
Sindhu will begin her campaign against Japan’s Aya Ohori and is expected to clash with Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile Saina Nehwal who defeated Sindhu to win her second CWG gold, will start against Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin in the opening round. “I have also been working on fitness and strokes in the last month or so. Expecting to put up a good show,” Saina sounded optimistic.
Among other Indians in fray, B Sai Praneeth will face Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, while Sameer Verma takes on Indoensia’s Tommy Sugiarto. However, HS Prannoy has decided to skip Malaysia Open but he would compete at next week’s Indonesia Open.
In men’s doubles, CWG silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to regain their touch when they face seventh-seeded Japanese combo of Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko.