Indian star badminton players to seek stability as Thailand Open Super 500 Championship kicks off
Posted Date – Mon 29 May 23 at 06:36pm
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Bangkok: Star Indian badminton players including PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will kick off their campaigns at the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton tournament, which kicks off on Tuesday, after a stellar performance in Malaysia.
With Sindhu reaching the semi-finals last week and Srikanth finishing with a quarter-final finish in Kuala Lumpur, the duo will be looking to draw deep to keep their hopes of winning the title alive.
Double Olympic medalist Sindhu nearly broke her title doom when she reached the final of the Spanish Masters in Madrid, but Srikanth has struggled since his epic run to last year’s Thomas Cup title.
The 27-year-old from Hyderabad, who slipped two spots to world No. 13 this week, will face Canada’s Michelle Lee in the first round, while Srikanth will be looking for HS Prannoy’s title against Malaysian Masters finalist Ong. Some hints of China’s Hong Yang.
While Sindhu’s win will likely see her face off with China’s sixth seed Wang Zhiyi, if Srikanth can clear the opening hurdle, he will have to contend with third seed China’s Shi Yuqi.
Lakshya Sen, who fell out of the top 20 after a poor season this season, will face Chinese Taipei’s Wang Ziwei. Last week, Mori lost in straight sets to Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long.
Orleans Masters champion Rajawat is also in action this week, when he faces Malaysia’s Goh Ziyong in the first round.
After skipping the Malaysia Masters, India’s top doubles duo Rankireddy and Shetty return to action this week against France’s Lucas Corvey and Ronan Labal.
Men’s duo Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, and women’s duo Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam are also in contention.
