FRESH from finishing runnerup at the French Open, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will look to continuing her strong run when she leads the Indian challenge at the USD 500,000 Hylo Open Super 500 badminton tournament starting here on Tuesday. Sindhu, a former world champion, won the Japan Open title in July before reaching the final in Paris, where she lost to World No1 An Se-young of South Korea in three games. Eighth seed Malvika Bansod will meet Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, while sixth seed Unnati Hooda faces Tereza Svabikova of the Czech Republic. Unnati will be looking to build on he routing at the Asian Games in Japan, where she reached the women’s singles quarter-finals. The Indian will be keen to build on those performances as she takes on Turkey’s Neslihan Arin in the women’s singles opening round.

 

India’s seventh seed Lakshya Sen, the 2019 Hylo Open champion, will face Finland’s Joakim Oldorff, while eighth seed Ayush Shetty takes on Taiwan’s Su Li Yang. Lakshya will be looking to rediscover consistency after a difficult run on the international circuit this season, while Ayush, who finished runner-up at the Badminton Asia Championships earlier this year, made headlines at the World Championships in August by defeating defending champion and then World No 1 ShiYuqi of China in the opening round. However, he too couldn’t build on those result sand made early exits in the subsequent events. India’s HS Prannoy, a 2023 World Championships bronze medallist, faces a tough opening test against third seed and reigning world champion Alex Lanier of France.