Indonesia Open Super 1000: Sindhu, Srikanth eye consistency
Bali: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and former world number 1 Kidambi Srikanth would look for a consistent show when they compete at the USD 850,000 Indonesia Open starting here on Tuesday.
Just days after their semifinal finishes at Indonesia Masters Super 750, the two top Indian shuttlers will begin their campaign at the World Tour Super 1000 event in their quest for title. Sindhu, the reigning world champion, last reached the finals at the Swiss Open. She came close to the summit clash thrice by reaching the semifinals on three occasions, including her last two tournaments. Last week, Sindhu's campaign was cut short by Japan's Akane Yamaguchi with a straight game win and the Indian will look to quickly recover from the loss.
The third seeded Indian will begin her campaign against Japan's Aya Ohori and she is likely to face Canada's sixth seed Michelle Li in the quarterfinals if she can cross the early rounds. Srikanth, who had claimed four titles in 2017, has regained some form with two back-to-back semifinal finishes at Hylo Open and Indonesia Masters last week and he would be desperate to continue his good run and break his title draught.
Among other Indians in the fray, sixth seeded men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has got a bye in the opening round, while MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will face Korea's Choi SolGyu and Kim Won Ho. Women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will cross swords with fifth seeded Bulgarian duo of Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva. In mixed doubles, Ashwini will pair up with B Sumeeth Reddy, while Sikki Reddy will play with Dhruv. Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad are also in the fray in the mixed doubles.