PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal to lead India in World Badminton Championships

India's PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will be in focus when the World Badminton Championships begin today at Glasgow in UK.

In the women's singles event, 4th seeded Sindhu has got a bye in the opening round and will meet the winner between South Korea's Kim Hyo Min and Egypt's Hadia Hosny for a place in the pre-quarterfinals. 12th seeded Saina, who also got a bye in the first round, will meet either Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet or Ukraine's Natalya Voytsekh in the Round of 32.

In the men's singles, 8th seeded Srikanth will open his campaign against Russia's Sergey Sirant today. B. Sai Praneeth will face Hong Kong's Wei Nan in the first round, while Sameer Verma will meet Spain's Pablo Abian in the opening



round. Ajay Jayaram, 13th seeded, will battle Austrian Luka Wraber in the first round.

India's men's doubles hopes hinge on Olympians Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who will face South Koreans Chung Eui Seok and Kim Dukyoung in their opening tie.

Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy, Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S. Ram, and Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil are India's representatives in the women's doubles category.

Ashwini will pair up with Sumeeth in the mixed doubles. Another important mixed doubles pairing for India will be Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki. The pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and K. Maneesha K. is India's third challenge in this category.