Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will seek consistency as they begin their campaign at the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton event commencing on Tuesday after a respectable performance in Malaysia.
The two will want to go further in the draw to keep their chances of winning a championship alive. Srikanth finished his career with a quarterfinal result in Kuala Lumpur, while Sindhu reached the quarterfinals last week.
The two-time Olympian Sindhu was on the verge of ending her championship curse as she advanced to the Madrid Spain Masters finals, while Srikanth has battled ever since his incredible run to the Thomas Cup win last year.
The 27-year-old from Hyderabad, who dropped two spots this week to the world number 13, will play Michelle Li of Canada in the first round, while Srikanth will try to pick up some pointers from HS Prannoy when he faces Malaysia Masters finalist Weng Hong Yang of China.
If Sindhu succeeds, she will likely battle against China’s sixth-seeded Wang Zhi Yi, but if Srikanth succeeds, he would have to face China’s third-seeded Shi Yu Qi.
Lakshya Sen, who dropped out of the top 20 after a terrible run this season, will face Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in the first round. Last week, Sen was defeated in three games by Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long.
Priyanshu Rajawat, who won the Orleans Masters, will compete this week when he plays Malaysian Ng Tze Yong in the first round.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India’s best doubles team, will return to action this week when they play France’s Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar after missing the Malaysia Masters. Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam, a women’s pair, and Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, a men’s pair, are also competing.
