Indian badminton fans will be focusing closely on PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal as the duo begin their campaign in this year's final Super 500 tournament, Hong Kong Open 2019. The top two Indian female shuttlers have faced early exits from recent tournaments and have not booked a spot in a summit clash since Sindhu's win at the BWF World Championships in August.
Starting as sixth and eighth seeds respectively, Sindhu and Saina could face tough competition going ahead. If Sindhu wins her first two rounds, she will be up against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi. Saina will face third seed Chen Yufei in the semifinals if she goes on to win all her group stage matches.
Expectations will be high from Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as the duo begin their campaign in the men's doubles category. The current World No.9 pair have been sensational this year, with their best result a runners-up finish at the French Open in October.
The men's singles category has five Indian players competing at the event, led by Kidambi Srikanth. The Hyderabad lad will face World No.1 Kento Momota in his first-round match. If Srikanth goes past Momota, it would set up all-India quarterfinal where he will face Sameer Verma after two wins.
B Sai Praneeth will start his campaign against the third-seeded Chinese Shi Yu Qi. If he wins the first two round matches, he could very well set up a quarterfinal clash with Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. Prannoy HS and Parupalli Kashyap will also play their first matches on Wednesday against Huang Yuxiang and Kenta Nishimoto respectively.
In the women's doubles category, N. Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa are the only pair to represent India and will be up against M Fruergaard / S Thygesen in their first match.
Here is all you need to know about the Hong Kong Open 2019 Schedule
Tournament: Yonex Hong Kong Open 2019
Category: Super 500
Prize Money: US$400,000
Venue: Hong Kong Coliseum, Hong Kong
Dates: November 12-17, 2019
Where to watch the matches in India?
The Hong Kong Open matches will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD.
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches
Live Stream will be available on Hotstar.com.