New Delhi: Star Indian badminton players PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy will be expected to perform better when they lead the country in the 4,75,000 (Rs 4,05,63,812) dollars in Kuala Lumpur from Tuesday when they lead the country in the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament.
Both Sindhu and Pranay have been struggling with poor form and fitness problems for some time. The two lost their matches against Indonesia and Denmark in the Sudiraman Cup last month, which was their previous competitive tournament.
After two weeks of breaks, the eyes of these two experienced players will be focused on achieving rhythm in Axiata Arena. Sindhu, a two -time Olympic medalist, ranked 16th in the world rankings, will start her campaign against Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira, who is ranked 20th in the world rankings.
Prannoy, who has moved 35th in the world rankings, has to face the tough challenge of Japan’s fifth seed Kento Nishimoto in the first round.
In the women’s singles, 2024 Hilo Open runner-up Malvika Bansod will take on the Chia Pin-Chaiyam of Chinese Taipei, while Unnati Hooda, who made it to the semi-finals of Taipei Open Super 300, will also face Chinese Taipei’s Lin Shiang Tea.
Attachary Kashyap has to launch her campaign against Kusuma Vardani, the eighth seeded daughter of Indonesia. In the men’s singles, 2023 Odisha Masters and 2024 Guwahati Masters champion Satish Karunakaran will clash with Denmark’s top seed Anders Antonson.
World Junior Championship bronze medalist Ayush Shetty will face Brian Yang in Canada while Priyanshu Rajawat will start his campaign against Jia Heng Jason Teh in Singapore.
In the mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Krusto’s world number 19 will face the qualifier, while Rohan Kapoor and Rutwika Shivani Gadde will start against fourth seeded Chinese pair Guo Shin Wa and Chain Fang Hua. Asit Surya and Amrita Pramuthesh will clash with top seed Jeng Jane Bang and Wei or Shin.
Satish will face Malaysia’s Roy King Jap and Valerie Sio in the mixed doubles.
In the men’s doubles, the pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rathinasbapati will challenge, while the women’s doubles will represent Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi, Vaishnavi Khadkekar and Alisha Khan, Prerna Alvekar and Mrunmayi Deshpande India.
In the qualifier, Kidambi Srikanth, S Shankar Muthusamy Subramaniam and Taharun Mannapalli will compete to make it to the men’s single -main draw while precious trillion and Tasnim Mir will come down with the intention of qualifying in the women’s category.
Other Indians participating in the qualification round include Mohit Jaglan and Lakshita Jagalan and Shivam Sharma and Purvisha S Ram.
