Ace India shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal will spearhead India’s challenge at prestigious YONEX All England 2021, which will kick-off today.
Significantly, the All England Open is the oldest Badminton tournament in the world and also one of the most prestigious.
Srikankth, Praneeth, Sindhu and Saina will be eager to put their best show ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
On the other hand, top shuttlers like Carolina Marin, Nozomi Okuhara, Kento Momota and Viktor Axelson will also be in the mix.
However, Indian fans will be looking upto Srikanth, Praneeth, Sindhu and Saina to bring home the glory. A tournament win has eluded Sindhu as the World No. 7, who finished runners-up in the preceding Swiss Open.
The star athlete has not won a final on the tour since her gold medal-winning run at the World Championships in August 2019 at Basel. Srikanth, meanwhile, crashed out in the semi-final showdown to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.
In the women’s draw, Sindhu has an easy start, but looks at a potential bout with rival Carolina Marin in the semis. Saina faces a tough start with a clash against Mia Blichfeldt in the opening round. In the men’s draw, expectations will be running high from Srikanth, Praneeth and other experienced players like Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma.
In the men’s doubles category, the sizzling duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, ranked World No. 10, are expected to shine after their semi-final finish at the Swiss Open 2021. The women’s doubles will see the regular entourage led by Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy, with the pairs of Meghana Jakkampudi/Poorvisha Ram and Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam also in the fray.