Indian Shuttlers Aim for Redemption at Indonesia Masters

NEW DELHI: Indian shuttlers would eye a drastic improvement after last week’s disappointing home run when they go up against a demanding draw at the USD 500,000 Indonesia Masters, which gets underway here on Tuesday.

Seventh seed Lakshya Sen will look to make a good start when he opens his campaign against Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh, while HS Prannoy faces a stern test against Malaysia’s former world No. 2 and Paris Olympics bronze-medallist Lee Zii Jia.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who reached the finals at Malaysia Masters and Syed Modi International last year, will take on Japan’s Koki Watanabe, while Tharun Mannepalli is drawn against Yushi Tanaka of Japan.

US Open champion Ayush Shetty has been handed a tough draw against third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, who reached the finals at India Open.

After a disappointing first-round exit at India Open, it will yet another tough outing for the 20-year-old.

In women’s singles, fifth seed PV Sindhu, who started the season after recovering from a foot injury, will begin her campaign against Japan’s Manami Suizu.

World No. 12 Sindhu endured a first-round exit at India Open after going down to Vietnam’s World No. 23 Nguyen Thuy Linh.

The young and promising Tanvi Sharma, a junior World Championships silver-medallist, is drawn against fourth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan.

Tanvi had produced a fearless show last week, coming close to beating world No. 2 Chinese Wang Zhi Yi before falling short in a three-game thriller.

Teenager Unnati Hooda would hope to be up for the challenge when she faces top seed Chen Yu Fei in her opening round, while Malvika Bansod will fight it out against sixth seed Michelle Li of Canada.

India will also have representation in the men’s doubles qualification, with Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun competing in the fourth qualifying round. Agencies

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