New Delhi : Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when the seventh India Super Series badminton tournament gets underway with the qualifiers here today.
Saina will be one of the favourites at the Indian Super Series, an event she won two years ago to achieve the world No.1 ranking. “Delhi has always been special to me. I won the Commonwealth Games gold here and then won the Indian Open in 2015 and became the world No.1. So everything has been special for me. It is great to play in front of home crowd,” said the current world No.8, who has been on a comeback trail after recovering from a knee injury.
In men’s singles, K Srikanth will look to repeat the performance which got him the 2015 edition title. Also in fray will be Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold runners-up B Sai Praneeth, who will face a qualifier in the first match, while Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold champion Sameer Verma will lock horns with Son Wan Ho. Ajay Jayaram will have to get past third seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Former Swiss Open champion H S Prannoy, who had hurt his knee at Basel this year, will face Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the first round.
In men’s doubles, India’s top pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will face Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, while seventh seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face the Indonesian combo of Hafiz Faizal and Shela Devi Aulia.
