Sindhu, Srikanth keen to regain lost touch; buoyant Satwik-Chirag eyeing another title

The biggest talking point in the Indian badminton circuit has been that of the wobbly form of Sindhu and Srikanth

Tokyo: Fresh from their Korea Open triumph, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their dream run, even as focus will be on the struggling singles stars such as PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth in the Japan Open, beginning here on Tuesday.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold-winning Indian doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag on Sunday stunned world No. 1 pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in a hard-fought final to extend their winning streak to 10 matches.

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They have been in the form of their career, winning the Swiss Open, Asian Championships and Indonesia Open this year and will look to continue the good run when the third-seeded Indians open against Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin of Indonesia in the Super 750 badminton tournament here.

Exactly a year before the Paris Olympics, the biggest talking point in the Indian badminton circuit has been that of the wobbly form of Sindhu and Srikanth.

Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist and former world champion, has been a shadow of her past after her injury rehab and has dropped to world No. 17 following her first round exits in six of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year. The latest was in Korea Open last week where she lost to lower-ranked Pai Yu-Po.

Sindhu has been error-prone and struggling to finish points even against lower-rung players. Under the guidance of her new coach Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, the 2003 All-England champion, she will look to work on her fast, attacking game to up the ante against her rivals.

This time, Sindhu’s opening round opponent will be Zhang Yi Man, against whom the Indian won in the Malaysian Open quarterfinals, en route to her semi-final finish in May this year. With the latest win, Sindhu has a 2-2 win-loss record against the 20th ranked Chinese.

But should Sindhu overcome the first round hurdle, she is likely to be up against her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying who has beaten the Indian nine times in a row in recent past in her 19-5 win-loss record.

Srikanth, a former world number one, has five first-round exits this season, while he reached the quarterfinals thrice at Indonesia, Malaysia and Spain. He has been training under new coach Wiempie Mahardi of Indonesia and will hope to produce the goods when he is up against Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Prannoy, who won his maiden BWF World Tour title at the Malaysia Masters in May, remained India’s top-ranked player but dropped two spots to 10th.

Prannoy, who lost in the second round at the Korea Open last week, is seeded eighth and pitted against unseeded Li Shi Feng of China.

If the Indians get past their respective opening round hurdles, Prannoy and Srikanth will clash in the battle for the quarterfinals where either of the them may face the toughest test of taming top-seed Viktor Axelsen.

The tournament will also mark the return of ace youngster Lakshya Sen, who took a break and skipped Korea Open after winning the Canada Open earlier this month.

Up and coming youngster Priyanshu Rajawat and Sen will face each other in an all-Indian opening round clash.

Should Sen get past Rajawat, he may face a tough test in second-seeded Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the next round.

National champion Mithun Manjunath was promoted to the draw and will be opening against China’s Weng Hong Yang.

Malavika Bansod is pitted against local challenger Aya Ohori, while Aakarshi Kashyap will face top-seeded Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s singles opening round.

Among other Indians in the fray, M R Arjun, who had retired in the opening match of Korea Open due to a back spasm, and Dhruv Kapila will square up against fourth seeded Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the men’s doubles.

In the women’s doubles, the Commonwealth Games bronze medal winning pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will take on local favourties Sayaka Hobara and Yui Suizu.

The mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy are also in fray.

The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300.

One other category of the tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points.