Tough draw for Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu at Indonesia Open Super Series

P V Sindhu

Nine Indian players will be participating in the BCA Indonesia Open 2014 which will be held in the beautiful city of Jakarta from June 17 to June 21.

This US$750,000 event is a Super Series Premier category tournament, the third such tournament of 2014 after the Malaysia Open in January and the All England in March.

In the women’s singles category star Indian shuttler and World No. 8 Saina Nehwal will lock horns with the World No. 9 Thai shuttler Porntip Buranaprasertsuk. Saina, who skipped the Japan Open Super Series recently, was in sublime form in the Uber Cup finals in New Delhi last month as she didn’t lose a single game throughout the tournament.

This will be the eighth meeting between these two players. In their previous seven encounters Saina Nehwal won six whereas Porntip won just one.

If Saina manages to reach the quarterfinals then she could well play the reigning Olympic champion and World No. 1 Li Xuerui.

Saina, who lost in the semifinals last year, has won this tournament thrice – in 2009, 2010 and in 2012.

Indian teenage badminton sensation and World No. 10 P V Sindhu has a tough task in the opening round as she will play the Olympic silver medalist and current World No. 3 Wang Yihan of China.

Sindhu, who defeated Wang in the 2013 World Championships, has a win-loss record of 1-2 against the higher ranked Chinese opponent.

In men’s singles Olympic quarterfinalist and 20th-ranked Parupalli Kashyap will take on the World No. 4 Japanese ace Kenichi Tago in his opener.

On the other hand, rising Indian badminton star and World No. 23 K Srikanth will take on a qualifier in the first round. If Srikanth gets past that hurdle then he will be up against the World No. 5 Indonesian player Tommy Sugiarto.

In men’s singles qualification two Indian players will be battling to make it through to the main draw of the tournament.

H S Prannoy, who is ranked 43rd in the world, will play the 40th-ranked Swedish shuttler Henri Hurskainen while World No. 35 Sourabh Verma will take on the American player Sattawat Pongnairat in the opening round.

A player needs to win two matches to qualify for the main draw of the tournament.

In women’s doubles, 2011 World Championships bronze medalist and World No. 32 Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will play the World No. 11 Indonesian pair of Pia Zebadiah and Rizki Amelia in the first round.

This will be the first meeting between these two pairs. If Gutta and Ponappa get past the local pair in the first round then they will play the World no. 5 Korean pair of So Young Kim and Ye Na Jang in the second round.

Second seeds in mixed doubles qualification, Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponappa will start their campaign by playing the inexperienced World no. 161 Indonesian pair of Ardiansyah and Devi Tika.

There is no Indian participation in the men’s doubles category of the tournament.