Saina, Sindhu look to sizzle at French Open

 

Saina Nehwal (left) and P.V. Sindhu will look to start afresh at the French Open badminton championship which will begin on Tuesday.

Sindhu had a dream run last week as she made it to her maiden Super Series final at the Denmark Open in Odense.

Having reached her maiden Super Series finals at Denmark Open, India’s P.V. Sindhu will now look to continue her rampaging form at the French Open Super Series, which will also see top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth leading the charge at the $275,000 event starting with the qualifiers on Tuesday. 

Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, Sindhu had a dream run last week as she made it to her maiden Super Series final at the Denmark Open in Odense before losing to Olympic champion Li Xuerui to end as a runner-up. 

The Hyderabadi, who lost a lot of times this season while nursing a foot injury, will start her campaign against formidable Chinese Wang Shixian. Sindhu has beaten Shixian four times and lost twice. 

World No. 1 Saina will also be in action after her second round exit at Odense. She will square up against reigning Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li of Canada at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin here. 

In men’s singles, fifth seed Srikanth will face Tian Houwei of China, while H S Prannoy will meet China’s most celebrated shuttler Lin Dan, seeded third in the tournament. 

Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, seeded eighth, who had lost in the first round after going down to Lee Chong Wei at Odense, will take on a qualifier in the first round. 

In women’s doubles, 2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will play Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai in the first round. 

In the qualifiers on Tuesday, India’s B Sai Praneeth will be up against Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei and two-time Dutch Open winner Ajay Jayaram will face local shuttler Thomas Rouxel.