Press Trust of India
Paris, Oct 19: Having reached her maiden Super Series final at Denmark Open, India’s PV Sindhu will now look to continue her rampaging form at the French Open Super Series, which will also see Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth leading the charge at the USD 275,000 event which starts here Tuesday.
Hyderabadi Sindhu, who lost a lot of time this season while nursing a foot injury, will start her campaign against formidable Chinese Wang Shixian. The Indian has beaten the Chinese four times and lost twice.
World No. 1 Saina will also be in action after her second round exit at Odense. She will square up against reigning Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li of Canada at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin here.
In men’s singles, fifth seed Srikanth will face Tian Houwei of China, while HS Prannoy will meet China’s most celebrated shuttler Lin Dan, seeded third in the tournament. Parupalli Kashyap, seeded eighth, however as a comparatively easy match as he will meet a qualifier.
In women’s doubles, 2010 CWG champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will play Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai in the first round.
In the qualifiers Tuesday, B Sai Praneeth will be up against Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei and two-time Dutch Open winner Ajay Jayaram will face local shuttler Thomas Rouxel.