Sindhu aims to start new year on a high at Malaysia Masters

Since the World Championship win, PV Sindhu hasn't had a great run and the ace shuttler will look to put that behind her and start the new year on a high when she begins her campaign at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament, starting here on Tuesday.

Sindhu made early exits in the rest of the season since becoming the world champion and also failed to defend the World Tour Finals crown in December.

Sixth ranked Sindhu should ease past Russia's Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the first round and the Indian will look to stay on course for an expected meeting with world No 1 Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals.

Saina Nehwal, who also endured a lean patch last year since winning the Indonesia Masters, will open against a qualifier at the Axiata Arena.

B Sai Praneeth will meet Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the first round.

Former world number six Parupalli Kashyap will face top seed and world No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan in the first round, while HS Prannoy, who was down with health issues for the most part of last season, will meet Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama.  Kidambi Srikanth will take on Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who became the first Indian men's pair to claim a super 500 title at the Thailand Open and also reached the finals of the French Open Super 750 event, will lock horns with Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.

Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will take on Korea's Chang Ye Na and Kim Hye Rin.