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New Delhi: World No.5 Saina Nehwal will have to overcome a strong field to win the India Open Superseries that begins later this month. The Indian has been seeded third behind two Chinese in the India Open, part of the Osim BWF World Superseries badminton tournament that will be played at the Siri Fort Auditorium from April 24-29.
The recent Swiss Open champion, who is considered to be India’s best bet for a medal in the London Olympics later this year, is seeded behind world No.3 Wang Shixian and Li Xuerui at the $200,000 prize money tournament.
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Saina had beaten Shixian in the final of the Swiss Open a few weeks ago. Another favourite to challenge for the title would be two-time All England champion Tine Baun, who is seeded fifth.
The men’s section will see equally competitive action, with three of the world’s top five players competing. World number one and defending champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia has been given the top billing with Denmark’s Peter Gade and former world champion Chen Jin of China seeded second and third respectively.
Indian national champion Sourabh Verma, who had achieved a creditable quarterfinal result last year, will play the qualifying rounds and has been seeded second in the qualifying draw. World No.41 Guru Sai Dutt will also be seen in qualifying round action.
The India Open will feature some of the finest doubles teams. Leading the action will be the All England champions Lee Yong Dae/ Jung Jae Sung of Korea, who are favourites to win Olympic gold.
Seedings:
Men’s singles: 1-Lee Chong Wei (MAS), 2-Peter Gade (DEN), 3- Chen Jin (CHN); 4-Sho Sasaki (JPN), 5-Hyun ll Lee (KOR), 6-Kenichi Tago (JPN), 8-Simon Santoso (INA), 8-Taufik Hidayat (INA)
Women’s singles: 1-Shixian Wang (CHN), 2-Li Xuerui (CHN), 3-Saina Nehwal (IND), 4-Yanjiao Wang (CHN), 5-Tine Baun (DEN), 6-Juliane Schenk (GER), 7-Inthanon Ratchanok (THA), 8-Sung Ji Hyun (KOR)
Men’s doubles: 1-Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae (KOR), 2-Yoo Yeon Seong/Ko Sung Hyun (KOR), 3-Zhendong Guo/Biao Chai (CHN), 4-Bona Septano/Mohammad Ahsan (INA), 5-Noriyasu Hirata/Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN), 6-Kien Keat Koo/Boon Heong Tan (MAS), 7-Shoji Sato/Naoki Kawamae (JPN), 8-Hendra Aprida Gunawan/Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)
Women’s doubles: 1-Kim Min Jung/Ha Jung Eun (KOR), 2-Mizuki Fujii/Reika Kakiiwa (JPN), 3-Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda (JPN), 4-Shizuka Matsuo/Mami Naito (JPN), 5-Greysia Polii/Meiliana Jauhari (INA), 6-Kim Ha Na/Jung Kyung Eun (KOR), 7-Ying Suet Tse/Lok Yan Poon (HKG), 8-Shinta Mulia Sari/Lei Yao (SIN)
Mixed Doubles: 1-Chen Xu/Jin Ma (CHN), 2-Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (INA), 3-Lee Yong Dae/Ha Jung Eun (KOR), 4-Peng Soon Chan/Liu Ying Goh (MAS), 5-Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA), 6-Chris Adcock/Imogen Bankier (ENG/SCO), 7-Shintaro Ikeda/Reiko Shiota (JPN), 8-Alexandr Nikolaenko/Valeri Sorokina (RUS)
