Sindhu and Srikanth will aim for the first title of the season at the Korea Open

Veteran Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will aim to maintain their consistency and win their first title of the season when they begin their campaign at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament here on Tuesday. More than six months passed in the current season but during this Sindhu could not win any title. She was sidelined for five months due to a stress fracture in her ankle. After his return, his game did not show the same sharpness as before. The two-time Olympic medalist reached the final of the Madrid Spain Masters, his best performance of the season. She then reached the semi-finals of the Canada Open but could not progress past the quarter-finals at the US Open. In the US Open, she was eliminated from the tournament after losing to China’s Gao Fang Jie.

Ranked 12th in the world, the player will open her campaign against Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po in the Korea Open. After winning this match, he may face the challenge of China’s Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei. Sindhu will be accompanied by her coach Mohammad Hafiz Hashim. In the presence of the former All England champion, he will be expected to perform better during the Olympic qualification period. Badminton’s Olympic qualification period ends in April next year. Srikanth, a former World Championship (2021) bronze medallist, has also shown a lack of consistency this season. He could only reach the quarterfinals of Spain Masters, Malaysia Masters and Indonesia Masters. Srikanth, a former world number one, has been training under his Indonesian coach Viampi Mahardi. He will begin his campaign against Japanese legend Kento Momota.

While Sindhu and Srikanth will look to end their title drought this season, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy will be eyeing their second title of the season. Lakshya has won the title in Canada while Prannoy has won in Malaysia and both will be looking to continue their momentum. Sen, a semi-finalist at the US Open, will take on former world number two Anders Antonsen of Denmark. Fifth seed Prannoy will take on fellow Indian Sameer Verma. The tournament will also be eyeing Indonesia Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty when they take on Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh and Kitinpong Kedren in the men’s doubles. The men’s singles draw will also feature reigning Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat, national champion Mithun Manjunath and 2022 Odisha Open winner Kiran George. In women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod will face a tough fight against China’s Zhang Yi Man and Olympic silver medalist Tai Tzu Ying respectively. In men’s doubles, the men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala and MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are also in the fray. Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will also be hoping for a good start to their campaign against Bulgarian sister pair of Gabriela Stoeva and Stefanie Stoeva. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa and Panda sisters Rutaparna and Swetaparna will also expect some good results this week. In the mixed doubles competition, N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini will also challenge with their respective partners Rohan Kapoor and B Sumeeth Reddy.