Sydney
HS Prannoy aims to bounce back as he leads India’s campaign at the Australian Open badminton tournament starting in Sydney on Tuesday. Seeded fifth, Prannoy has struggled recently, being upset by compatriot Meiraba Luwang Maisnam in the opening round of the Thailand Open last month and losing to world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto in the Round of 16 at the Singapore Open.
Desperate to regain his form, world No. 10 Prannoy will begin his BWF Super 500 event against Brazil’s Ygor Coelho. In other men’s singles matches, Sameer Verma will face Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo, while Ravi takes on the eighth seed Loh Kean Yew from Singapore. Mithun Manjunath meets Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan, Kiran George faces Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng, and S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian is up against top seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
In women’s singles, eighth seed Aakarshi Kashyap leads the Indian charge, opening against Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova. Ashmita Chaliha plays Peru’s Ines Lucia Castillo, Anupama Upadhyaya faces Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching, and Samiya Imad Farooqui has a challenging match against top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Keyura Mopati and Malvika Bansod will compete in an all-Indian contest.
While no Indian pairs feature in men’s doubles, the Panda sisters, Rutuparna and Swetaparna, seeded seventh, and the duo of Harshita Rout and Sruti Swain will lead in women’s doubles. In mixed doubles, eighth seeds B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy will play against Malaysia’s Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien.
