INDIAN shuttlers have been handed a tricky draw at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 tournament here later this month, with former world champion PV Sindhu set to face Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen, against whom she had lost twice recently, in the women’s singles first round. Lakshya Sen, the 2022 champion, will open campaign against the talented Ayush Shetty in an all-Indian clash.

 

The tournament, one of the most prestigious events on the BWF World Tour,will be played from January 13 to 18 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The event will be a dress rehearsal for the BWF World Championships to be held at the same venue in August. From an Indian perspective, Sen’s clash with former world junior bronze medallist Shetty will ensure that only three of the four Indian men’s singles players in the fray can progress to the second round. The winner of this all-Indian clash will then face either fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei or Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto.

 

Among the other Indian singles players, former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth will be up against Chinese-Taipei’s 2024 Thomas Cup bronze medal-winning team member and world No 12 Lin Chun-Yi, with a possible second-round clash against Christo Popov. Popov made history last month by becoming the first French player to win the BWF World Tour Finals men’s singles title. Stalwart HS Prannoy, who got into the main draw after the withdrawal of Denmark’s Anders Antonsen,willopenhiscampaign againstlast edition finalist Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.

 

Sindhu’s opponent Nguyen, ranked 22 in the world, was one of the most improved players on the circuit last year. If the Indian gets past the Vietnamese, second seed Wang Zhi Yi or her Chinese team-mate Gao Fang Jie awaits her in the second round. Malvika Bansod, returning after a long injury break and playing in the event with herprotectedranking,will facePaiYuPoofChinese Taipei in the opening round.

 

In an interesting opening-round clash, top seed An Se Young will face former world champion Nozomi Okuhara while third seed Akane Yamaguchi will be up against compatriot Riko Gunji. In doubles, former champions Chirag Shetty and Satwik sairaj Rankireddy have been handed a relatively easy opener against USA’s Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith.