Sindhu looks to start 2020 on a positive note

World No.6 Sindhu had a dream run at the World Championships in Basel, winning the title last year, but made early exits in the rest of the season, including her failure to defend the World Tour Finals crown. With the Olympic Games less than seven months away, Sindhu will look to iron out the flaws and hit the right note at the USD 400,000 event.

Sixth seed Sindhu will have an easy opponent in Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the first round. The other Indian women’s singles player, Saina Nehwal, will open against a qualifier. Kidambi Srikanth, who pulled out of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), has a men’s singles clash against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

B Sai Praneeth, who ended 2019 as the best-placed Indian men’s singles player in the BWF rankings, will open against Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, while Sameer Verma will square off against Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen. Parupalli Kashyap will face World No.1 Kento Momota of Japan, while HS Prannoy will meet Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.