The men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. SumeethReddy will take China’s Cai Yun and Lu Kai
Kidambi Srikanth
New Delhi: Indian shuttlers were on Tuesday handed “a decent draw” for next month’s World Championships that gets under way at Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta from August 10.
It is for the first time that India will have two players in the top 5 — Saina Nehwal (world no. 2) and Kidambi Srikanth (world no. 3) as they lead the charge at the championship that will see top-50 ranked players in action.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had ended India’s 28-year-old medal drought at the tournament when they bagged the women’s doubles bronze in 2011, before P.V. Sindhu clinched the women’s singles bronze medal twice in 2013 and 2014 editions.
However, a medal at the Worlds has eluded Olympic bronze medallist Saina, who has not progressed beyond the quarter-finals five times. National chief coach Pullela Gopichand said “it’s a decent draw for the Indians”.
“You can’t expect an easy draw at the World Championships. I believe initials rounds are going to be easy. Overall, I am happy with the draw and the players are confident of doing well,” Gopichand said.
Saina has got a bye in the first round and will begin her campaign against the winner of the match between Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi and Kati Tolmoff of Estonia.
The second seed, who won the Syed Modi GPG and the India Open Super Series this season, is likely to take on 14th seed Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in the pre-quarter-finals.
In the men’s singles, third seed Srikanth — who also has won two titles this season — faces Michael Fariman of Australia in the first round, while Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, seeded 10th, squares up against Erik Meijs of the Netherlands.
Sindhu, who had a difficult season marred by injury and poor form, got a bye in the opening round and will take on the winner of the match between Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt and Irish Chloe Magee in the second round.
The men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. SumeethReddy will take China’s Cai Yun and Lu Kai, while Jwala and Ashwini have got a bye in the first round. They meet the winners of the first round match between the Canadian pair of Alex Bruce and Phyllis Chan and Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Pei Chen and Wu Ti Jung in the women’s doubles.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
Next Story
