Swiss Open: Title holder Sindhu eyes turnaround

PTI, Mar 20, 2023, 1:00 PM IST

Enduring a wretched run of form, defending champion PV Sindhu will hope to get back to winning ways when she competes at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament, beginning here on Tuesday.

World number 9 HS Prannoy, who had finished runners-up in the last edition, too will eye a better show after a second round exit in the All England Championships.

The fifth seeded Indian, however, will have a tough task at hand as he opens against 2018 world championships silver medallist China’s Shi Yuqi, who finished second best in Birmingham last week.

While Prannoy has been the most consistent singles player from the country, Sindhu and Lakshya Sen have struggled this season, making early exits in a series of events.

Sindhu, who parted ways with Korean coach Park Tae-sang after failing to get results following a long injury lay-off, made a first round exit last week after losing to Zhang Yi Man of China.

A double Olympic medallist, Sindhu will hope to regain her confidence as she returns to the USD 210,000 event, opening her campaign against local player Jenjira Stadelmann.

Sen, who had made early exits from Malaysia and India Open, notched up an intense win over Chou Tien Chen last week but faltered against former world number 2 and two-time world championships medallist Anders Antonsen of Denmark.

The eighth seed is pitted against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu and is likely to run into fellow Indian Kidambi Srikanth, who opens against the 23-year-old Weng Hong Yang of China.

Following a second successive semifinal finish at All England, the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will run into second seeds Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti from Indonesia in the opening round.

The top Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty looked good before narrowly going down China’s world no. 10 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang. The second seeded combination will open against a pair, which will enter the main draw from the qualifying round.

Among others in doubles, the men’s pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud, and the women’s combination of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam, are also in the fray.