Seoul: Saina Nehwal and Sameer Verma will look to put their best foot forward when they lead Indian challenge at the USD 600,000 Korea Open World Tour Super 500 tournament beginning here Tuesday.
Saina, who had skipped the Japan Open earlier this month after winning a bronze at 18th Asian Games, will look to get over the disappointment of her first-round exit at China last week when she takes on Korean Kim Hyo Min.
Fifth seeded Saina, ranked 10th in the world, has done well in the major events this year, grabbing a second gold at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the Jakarta Asian Games. But the Indian has been inconsistent in the BWF events.
Saina, who had reached the finals at the USD 350,000 Indonesia Masters in January, was ousted by Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun last week at China and will have a tough task at hand as she is likely to face third seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the quarterfinals.
In men’s singles, Sameer Verma will carry the Indian flag after Kidambi Srikanth pulled out after playing back-to-back tournaments in Japan and China in the last two weeks. Sameer has been troubled by injuries but he has done well when he has been fit, winning titles at Swiss Open in February and Hyderabad Open early this month.