Korea Open: Sindhu looks to bounce back from early China Open exit

Bengaluru, September 24: World champion P V Sindhu resumes her quest for a BWF World Tour title this season at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament, which starts on Tuesday (September 24).

After her World Championships triumph, Olympic silver medallist Sindhu was knocked out of the China Open Super 1000 event last week by Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong in the second round.

The 24-year-old Indian, will have a chance to avenge her China Open exit as she is likely to face Chochuwong again, but before that she is set for a challenging opener in the form of USA's Beiwen Zhang.

Sindhu, who won the Korea Open title in 2017, had defeated Zhang en route to her World Championships gold at Basel in August, but will be wary of the American, who defeated her twice last year at India Open and Denmark Open.

Joining Sindhu, will be London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who had won the Indonesia Masters earlier this season, but hasn't looked her usual self on the whole this year.

Saina, who has been hit by injuries, lost in the first round of Malaysia Open, New Zealand Open, Sudirman Cup and China Open. So, the eighth seeded Saina will hope to turn things around when she opens her campaign against Korean Kim Ga Eun.

The 29-year-old has a 2-0 head-to-head record against Kim and another win over the Korean is likely to pit her against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the next round.

Meanwhile, in the men's singles event, B Sai Praneeth, who had ended India's 36 year old wait for a medal at the World Championships, will also look to maintain his good form after a quarterfinal finish in China Open last week.

However, Praneeth will face a dangerous opponent in fifth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark, who ended with a silver medal at the World Championship last month.

Joining Sai Praneeth will be former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who has looked impressive this season and will take on a qualifier in his opening round.

In men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had broken into world's top 10 after winning the Thailand Open last month, will face fourth seeded Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda in the men's doubles opening round. While, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on a qualifying pair.

(With inputs from PTI)