China Open: Sindhu may meet Saina in quarters

Changzhou, September 18: Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal are on a collision course and might end up playing against each other as early as in the quarterfinals of the China Open Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 tournament which began on Tuesday (September 18).

Sindhu, who had clinched the $700,000 BWF China Open in 2016 will start her campaign against Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium.

The 28-year-old, who skipped the recent BWF Japan Open faces a tough first-round against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun.

Saina, who won bronze at the recent Asian Games in Jakarta has a 8-2 head-to-head record against Sung Ji and if she can surpass the Korean, fifth seed Chinese Chen Yufei will stand in her way.

If everything goes according to the draw, Saina will have to face Sindhu in an all-Indian quarterfinals and that will be worth a clash.

The 23-year-old has been the most consistent this season with silver medals in all the major events this year - the Commonwealth Games, the World Championship and the Asian Games.

Sindhu also reached the finals at the India Open and Thailand Open, though she suffered a shock second-round defeat at the hands on China's unheralded Gao Fangjie in the last week's Japan Open.

Badminton | Prestigious China Open (that is one of the 3 BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournaments), starts tomorrow.
Indian interest in Singles:
P.V Sindhu (3rd seed)
Saina Nehwal
Srikanth (7th seed)
Prannoy #ChinaOpenSuper1000 pic.twitter.com/2CEVzm19pS

— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) September 17, 2018

In the men's section, HS Prannoy too will look to go deep in the tournament after starting against Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus, seeded eighth.

Among others in fray, women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will face Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong.

In men's doubles, Commonwealth Games silver medallist pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will square off against Malaysia's Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong, while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will fight it out against Taiwanese combination of Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng.

In mixed doubles, Satwik and Ashwini will meet English combination of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki will take on Germany's Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler in another match.

Among others, former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth will look to build on his quarterfinal finish at Japan Open when he begins his campaign against Denmark's Rasmus Gemke.

However, world champion Kento Momota, who had ended his campaign at Malaysia and Indonesia, will once again stand in his way in the quarterfinal.

(With inputs from Agencies)