Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu look forward to Singapore Super Series

Singapore, April 10: Indian badminton queens Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu will look to put behind their disappointing first-round exits last week at Malaysia when they start their campaign at the Singapore Super Series, commencing with the qualifiers here tomorrow.

Sindhu, who clinched her maiden India Open at New Delhi to achieve a career-best World No. 2 ranking, will have to get over the heartbreak at Kuching, where she was stunned by upcoming Chinese shuttler Chen Yufei.

Similarly, Saina will have to erase the memory of her opening-round shock by Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.

A tough draw awaits the Indian shuttlers at the Singapore Open with Sindhu slated to face Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, 2016 All England Open champion and Rio Olympic bronze medallist.

Saina, meanwhile, will take on a qualifier. The men's singles draw is equally challenging as top seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark will stand in the way of India's B Sai Praneeth in the opening round, while rising star Sameer Verma will once again face Hong Kong's Hu Yun, whom he had beaten at the India Open early this month.

Ajay Jayaram, who had beaten World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen en route to the quarterfinals at Malaysia Open last week, will meet fifth-seeded young Chinese shuttler Shi Yuqi, who had reached the finals at the All England last month.

After skipping the Malaysia Open following his second- round loss in India Open, Kidambi Srikanth will be looking to regain his form that saw him conquer the 2014 China Open and 2015 India Open.

The former World No. 4 will square off against a qualifier. In men's doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who have found the going tough ever since their Olympic qualification, will face Japanese third-seeded pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda in the opening round.

Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold finalists, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will meet Malaysian combo of Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen in women's doubles competition.

PTI