India’s two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu will look to bring her best to the fore on the big stage when she begins her title defence at the BWF World Championships that start in Huelva, Spain on Sunday.
But, as one of the seeded players, she has a first-round bye in the opening round and it will be a straight second-round start for her.
The tournament has lost sheen with the withdrawals of the Indonesian contingent and other elite players such as two-time winner Kento Momota, three-time champion Carolina Marin and 2017 winner Nozomi Okuhara. It will also be the first time in her career that London Olympics bronze medallist and 2015 silver medallist Saina Nehwal will miss the World Championships due to multiple injuries.
When the event begins on Sunday, former world No 1 Srikanth Kidambi and Basel 2019 bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth are set to be in action and they will hope to begin their campaign with a win, and put themselves on course for a potential all-Indian quarterfinal.
Sindhu in action later
While Sindhu will fancy her chances, retaining the title will still be much easier said than done. The defending champion’s second-round opponent is Slovakia’s Martina Repiska, the world No 72. A potential third round battle against Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong will be a huge test. And should she pass that, a quarterfinal rematch awaits against top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
The men’s doubles field has also been left depleted with the top two seeds – both from Indonesia – missing in action.
Eighth seeded Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has got a bye in the first round and will face the winners of Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan and Fabricio Farias and Francielton Farias in doubles. Women’s doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on 14th seeds Liu Xuan Xuan and Xia Yu Ting in the second after their first-round opponents withdrew.
Among Indian shuttlers to withdraw are K Maneesha, who has paired with Rutaparna Panda in women’s doubles and MR Arjun in mixed doubles.
Men’s singles focus on Sunday
In men’s singles, former top 10 player HS Prannoy will be up against eighth seed Ng Ka Long Angus on Monday. Lakshya Sen’s first-round opponent has also withdrawn and he wouldn’t be in action till Tuesday.
To kick things off, 12th seeded Srikanth, who struggled to get a visa according to PTI, will face Spain’s Pablo Abian in his opener in the final scheduled match on Court 1. This will be the second meeting for Srikanth against world No 53 Abian, their previous encounter going the Indian’s way at the 2018 World Championships in Nanjing.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth meets Dutch shuttler Mark Caljouw late on Sunday too. This will be a rematch of their meeting in Tokyo, one that Sai lost 14-21, 14-21 despite being the higher seed as he bowed out of the Olympics in the group stage. That was their only previous meeting. Caljouw had reached the semifinals at All England Open earlier this year.
Sai Praneeth has, on paper, a solid chance to reach at least the quarterfinals. Srikanth, however, faces a trickier road. Should he prevails against Abian and then move on to the third round, a potential battle awaits against either fourth seed Chou Tien Chen or rising Thai star Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who reached the final at the World Tour Finals. If Srikanth and Sai Praneeth both survive three rounds, India will be assured a men’s singles medal.
In men’s doubles and women’s doubles Manu-Attri and Sumeeth Reddy, Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh are in action on Sunday.
(With PTI inputs)