Swiss Open: Sindhu, Srikanth look to find top form; exhausted Sen opts out
Lakshya decided to withdraw after exhaustion following back-to-back final appearances at the German Open and All England Championships
Basel: All England Championships finalist Lakshya Sen will be missing in action but double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and World championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth will look to make a mark when the Swiss Open Super 300 begins here on Tuesday.
Sen, the 20-year-old from Almora, decided to withdraw after feeling exhausted following back-to-back final appearances at the German Open and All England Championships.
While Sen has been sensational in the last two weeks, top players Sindhu, Srikanth and Saina Nehwal failed to reach the quarterfinals at Birmingham and would eye a better show this week.
While Sindhu and Saina lost in the second round in both German Open and All England Championships, Srikanth had reached the last 8 at Muelheim an der Ruhr.
Sindhu, seeded second, the 2019 World champion, will take on Denmark's world no 32 Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt in her opening round, while Saina opens against China's seventh seed Wang Zhi Yi.
Srikanth, who has looked in good touch since his World Championships bronze, will face a qualifier in his men's singles opener.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will meet compatriot HS Prannoy in his opening match, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will square off against a qualifier.
In women's singles, Aakarshi Kashyap has been pitted against Germany's Yvonne Li in the opening round.
Third seeded men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had won the India Open in January, will open against Indonesian combination of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana.
MR ARjun and Dhruv Kapila, and Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will also be in action in men's doubles.
Following their sensational run at the All England Championships where they made it to the semifinals, all eyes will also be on Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand when they begin against second seed Thailand's Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.
Sixth seeded Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will meet Switzerland's Aline Müller and Jenjira Stadelmann.
In mixed doubles, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, and Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan will be in action.