India Open 2020: Preview, full schedule and draw

Amidst much confusion emanating from the Coronavirus outbreak, the upcoming Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2020 released its draw for the March 23 - March 30 tournament. Things look difficult for Olympic medalists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu as they have been handed tricky draws for the event.

With the days for qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics nearing its end, there is a huge rush in the badminton camp to enter the Top 16 rank at any cost by the 28th of April and safeguard their place for the Olympics.

The Coronavirus outbreak has made situations worse with most tournaments being either canceled or postponed owing to the threat of this virus. However, as of now the India Open is on track and will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi later this month.

Although there is some scrutiny still doing the rounds given how coronavirus has crept into our country, so far there is no news of it being delayed or done away with. The draw released for the upcoming tournament has a lot of interesting and exciting clashes on the cards.

Firstly, Saina Nehwal will have to perform extremely well in every tournament she plays now as her rankings have really slid and she has to gain it back quickly to qualify for her fourth-straight Olympics. The 2015 India Open champion, Nehwal will lock horns with Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po in the first round encounter. Once she is through, Nehwal might be facing eighth seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun.

P V Sindhu, who is well within the Top 16 will be playing Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi in her opening round match. If the reigning World Champion wins, she might be facing the seventh seeded Michelle Li. The 2017 champion will have to give it her all as her opponents are not the easiest to tackle.

On the other hand, former World No. 1, Kidambi Srikanth also has the similar pressure to qualify for the Olympics. He will meet a qualifier in his first round match after which a possible clash with youngster Lakshya Sen awaits in the quarter-finals of the World Tour Super 500 tournament.

Seeded third, Sai Praneeth will be facing another Indian talent, HS Prannoy in his opening round match while Sameer Verma will take on Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin. Sourabh Verma, as well will have to tackle his way past seventh-seeded Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in the first-round encounter. There is also Parupalli Kashyap who will go up against Thailand’s Khosit Phetpradab.

For doubles, star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will open their campaign at the India Open by playing against Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.

Things look incredibly exciting with the India Open presenting a very interesting draw for the clashes. If the Coronavirus does not curtail the tournament, the India Open will be something to definitely look out for.