2015 Japan Open : Saina, Sindhu to lead India's charge

Saina Nehwal will look to put in a good performance and hopefully clinch the title

After a week-long break, the action will resume in the badminton calendar with all the players assembling in Tokyo for the 2015 Japan Open. The main draw of the competition begins on Wednesday while the qualification stage of the tournament is scheduled for Tuesday.

In the Women’s Singles category, World Number 1 Saina Nehwal will open her campaign against Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand in the opening round. Joining Saina in leading India’s charge in Women’s Singles will be PV Sindhu, who will look to have better final part of 2015 after a mediocre first 9 months, where she has suffered early round losses. She will face Minatsu Mitani of Japan in the opening round.

India will have five confirmed representations in the Men’s Singles category in the form of Kidambi Srikanth, who will take on Scott Evans of Ireland. Parupalli Kashyap, who perhaps had the worst results at the World Championships among all the Singles players, will face off against Japan’s Takuma Ueda.

HS Prannoy will take on Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong while Ajay Jayaram will have to tackle the ever-improving Viktor Axelson of Denmark in his opening round match. Sai Praneeth will have to wait for a qualifier while Anand Pawar will look to become the country’s fifth representation after going through qualification.

The Women’s Doubles contingent will be led by Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who will look to win their second title of the year and will face while Pradnya Gadre and Sikki Reddy will also look to enter the main draw.

Surprisingly, India have not sent in any team in the Men’s Doubles event despite the fact the Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have had a decent year so far, barring the disappointing show at the World Championships.