Kolkata: All England Championships finalist Lakshya Sen will not be available whereas PV Sindhu, a double Olympic medalist, and Kidambi Srikanth, a World Championships silver medalist, will aim to make an impression when the Swiss Open Super 300 begins on Tuesday.
Sen, a 20-year-old from Almora, opted to quit due to exhaustion after competing in back-to-back finals at the German Open and the All England Championships.
While Sen has been outstanding in the last two weeks, top players Sindhu, Srikanth, and Saina Nehwal all missed out on the quarterfinals in Birmingham and will be hoping for a stronger showing this week.
In her first round, Sindhu, the 2019 World champion, will face Denmark’s world no 32 Line Hjmark Kjaersfeldt, while Saina will face China’s seventh seed Wang Zhi Yi. While Srikanth, who has appeared in strong form since winning bronze at the World Championships, will meet a qualifier in his men’s singles opener.
In his first round, Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will face fellow countryman HS Prannoy, while former Commonwealth Games winner Parupalli Kashyap will face a qualifier.
In the first round of the women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap will face Yvonne Li of Germany. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the third-seeded men’s doubles team, who won the India Open in January, will face Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in the first round.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will face second seed Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai in the first round after a phenomenal run at the All England Championships, where they reached the semifinals.
The sixth-seeded Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will face Aline Müller and Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland.
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, as well as Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan, will compete in mixed doubles.
