All England Open 2022 finalist Lakshya Sen has decided to rest before playing in the Swiss Open Super 300 on Tuesday 21 March. After a busy 2 weeks in which Lakshya reached the finals of the German Open and the prestigious All England Open, the 20-year-old
At the Swiss Open, however, the double Olympic champion PV Sindhu, the World Championships silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth and the London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal will be in action.
While Sen has been sensational over the past two weeks, top players Sindhu, Srikanth and Saina Nehwal failed to reach the quarter-finals in Birmingham and would be eyeing a better show this week.
While Sindhu and Saina lost in the second round at both the German Open and the All England Championships, Srikanth was in the last 8 in Germany.
Sindhu, the second-seeded 2019 World Champion, will take on Denmark’s world No. 32 Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt in her opening round, while Saina opens against China’s seventh seedling Wang Zhi Yi.
Srikanth, who has impressed since his bronze medal at the World Championships, meets a qualifier in his opener in men’s singles.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth meets fellow countryman HS Prannoy in his opening match, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will play a qualifier.
In the women’s opening round, Aakarshi Kashyap faced Germany’s Yvonne Li.
Third-seeded men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the India Open in January, will open against Indonesian combination Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana.
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila as well as Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will also be in action in the men’s doubles.
ALL EYES ON GAYATRI-JOLLY
After their sensational run at the All England Championships, where they made it to the semi-finals, all eyes will also be on Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand as they take on second placed Thais Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.
Sixth seeded Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy meet Swiss Aline Müller and Jenjira Stadelmann.
The mixed doubles will feature Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, as well as Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan. (With PTI inputs)
