Indonesia Open another chance for PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth to end title drought

Modified Nov 23, 2021 17:28 IST

Third seed PV Sindhu (L) and Kidambi Srikanth will look to perform better in Bali

The Indonesian Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament will provide yet another chance for PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth to end their title-draught.

Reigning world champion PV Sindhu and former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth have not won a title recently. While Sindhu’s last triumph was at the World Championship in 2019 at Basel, Srikanth’s won his previous title at the French Open in 2019.

Both Sindhu and Srikanth excelled at the last week’s Indonesia Masters and reached the semi-finals. The star Indian duo have shown that they are regaining their best form in Bali. Both Sindhu and Srikanth would like to extend their brilliant run and even do better at the same venue.

The $850,000 Indonesia Open will get underway on Tuesday and almost the same Indian players which played last week will be in the fray.

World No. 7 Sindhu launches her campaign against Japan’s Aya Ohori on Wednesday. Third seed Sindhu is in the bottom half of the draw and is likely to face Canada’s sixth seed Michelle Li in the quarterfinals.

Sindhu has an unbeaten record against Japanese Aya Ohori

Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Sindhu has never lost a match against Japanese Aya Ohori so far in the last seven years. 26-year-old Sindhu enjoys an awesome 10-0 head-to-head record against the world No. 21 Ohori.

However, the Japanese has stretched Sindhu to three games in their three out of last four matches. Third seed Sindhu, who lost to top seed Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday in the semis, will be eager to improve her performance in Bali.

Srikanth to face HS Prannoy again

After missing the Tokyo Olympics, Kidambi Srikanth is determined to prove a point or two to his detractors. The former world No. 1 Srikanth has regained some form with two back-to-back semifinal finishes - the Hylo Open and the Indonesian Masters.

Srikanth stunned reigning Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie in the second round. But he was beaten by Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the Indonesia Masters semis.

World No. 15 Srikanth will take on his compatriot HS Prannoy in the first round on Wednesday. Regular practice partners at the Pullela Gopichand Academy Srikanth defeated Prannoy in straight games in the quarters last week.

B Sai Praneeth will also hope to turn his form around when the world No. 16 faces France’s Toma Junior Popov in the opening round.

Lakshya Sen will have the daunting task of upsetting top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota in his opening match on Tuesday.

In another opening day clash, Parupalli Kashyap will lock horns with Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew.

Sixth seeded men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got a bye in the opening round. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will meet Choi Soluyu and Kim Won Ho of Korea in the first round.

Women’s doubles pair Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will square off against the fifth-seeded Bulgarian duo of Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva.