Competition: OUE Singapore Open Superseries 2017Venue: Singapore Indoor StadiumCategory: SuperseriesDate: Wednesday, April 12, 2017Round: FirstTime: (5) PV Sindhu vs Nozomi Okuhara at 2 pmChannel: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2Live streaming: Star Sports Hotstar
Preview
(5) PV Sindhu (BWF Rank: 2) vs Nozomi Okuhara (BWF Rank: 10)
Head-to-head: Okuhara leads 3-2
The first test for PV Sindhu after she became the new World No. 2 is here and it is a big one. The Indian faces the 2016 All England Championships winner Nozomi Okuhara in her first round at the Singapore Open as she begins her quest to add a second Superseries title this season after her India Open success.
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The Japanese edges their head-to-head meetings 3-2 and won three showdowns in a row before Sindhu won their most recent meeting at the Rio Olympics in straight games. However, after clinching that Olympic bronze medal, Okuhara couldn’t build on it much as a shoulder injury robbed her of a chunk of her season.
She came back at the All England Championships this year where she lost to Saina Nehwal in the first round. But she has already started showing flashes of her brilliance and made it to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open Superseries Premier last week.
The Pullela Gopichand protege thus needs to be careful and shouldn’t allow the Japanese to settle into her comfort zone. Defence is a strong point of Okuhara’s game and she will try her best to tire out the Indian. Having said that, Sindhu’s defensive skills are far improved now and she is also eager to erase her Malaysia Open first round setback.
If anything, this match has all the ingredients to be a cracker.
Schedule for the rest of the Indian contingent:
Men’s singles
Sai Praneeth vs Emil Holst at 8 am
Sameer Verma vs Hu Yun at 8.45 am
Sourabh Verma vs Anthony Sinisuka Ginting at 11.45 am
Ajay Jayaram vs (5) Shi Yuqi at 5 pm
Srikanth Kidambi vs Kenta Nishimoto at 5.45 pm
Women’s singles
Rituparna Das vs Hsu Ya Ching at 7.15 am
Men’s doubles
Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy vs (3) Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda at 11.45 am
Arjun MR/Shlok Ramchandran vs Yew Sin Ong/Ey Yi Tio at 2 pm
Women’s doubles
Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy vs Yin Loo Lim/Yap Cheng Wen at 10.15 am
Meghana Jakkampudi/Poorvisha S Ram vs (3) Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan at 12.30 pm
Sanjana Santosh/Arathi Sara Sunil vs (1) Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi at 12.30 pm
Mixed doubles
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/K Maneesha vs Lu Ching Yao/Chiang Kai Hsin at 6.30 am
(All timings in Indian Standard Time)
