Indian shuttlers will continue to chase glory at the All England Championships beginning in Birmingham today, with reigning world champion P V Sindhu spearheading the campaign.
The season’s first Super 1000 event witnessed a dramatic build-up in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has claimed over 3,800 lives and infected more than one lakh people globally.
A number of tournaments, including the German Open, was postponed since the deadly disease first broke out in Wuhan, China, affecting the preparation of the shuttlers for the Tokyo Olympics.
Sindhu, Former silver medallist Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will eye valuable points to squeeze inside the top 16 before the deadline for Olympic qualification ends on 28th of April.
World championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth, who is also almost assured of a berth at Tokyo, will open against China’s Zhao Jun Peng. Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who is coming back after recovering from a back injury at Spain Masters last month, will be up against Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in the opener.
Among other Indians, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Siki Reddy will face Australian pair of Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville in women’s doubles, while Sikki will pair up with Pranaav Jerry Chopra to take on top seeded Chinese Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong.
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