Paris: Newly-crowned Denmark Open champion shuttler Kidambi Srikanth will look to carry on his fine form into the French Open Super Series badminton tournament this week when he spearheads the Indian challenge here. The event starts Tuesday with the qualifying matches. Srikanth has been in sensational form this year reaching the finals of four Super Series events and winning three of them.
Srikanth will open his campaign against England’s Rajiv Ouseph. The man from Guntur might face Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent, who he had beaten in the semifinals at Odense, in the second round here.
In the women’s segment PV Sindhu will square off against Spain’s Beatriz Corrales in the opening round while Saina Nehwal face Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour.
Among others in fray are B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap in the men’s segment. Ajay Jayaram, Verma brothers – Sourabh and Sameer – have all withdrawn from the event due to fitness issues.
Meanwhile Srikanth told this agency Monday that he would be cutting down on the number of tournaments he competes in to be in best shape for the marquee events lined up next year.
“I really want to play a fixed number of tournaments and push myself for the rankings,” Srikanth informed. “I will play around 10 events and then take part in the Commonwealth and the Asian Games, the World Championship and then there is Syed Modi which is compulsory and PBL, so it would make it 15-17 tournaments anyway,” he added.
Talking about the upcoming event Srikanth was quick to point out that the first round in any tournament is very crucial.
“I’ve just won the Denmark Open. So the pressure will be on me. The first round match is very crucial. It is natural for complacency to set in. So I am guarding against it,” Srikanth said.
“I am happy with the way it went for me at Odense, it was fantastic. I beat some tough players this week. I can’t even say it was a dream come true because I never dreamt of winning three titles this year,” added the reticent shuttler.
Srikanth also asserted that he would look to finish the year on a high. “It was a good year for me. After coming back from injury, I played really well. There are more Super Series tournaments to go and I really want to finish well,” informed the player.
Press trust of India