Shuttlers eye home glory at India Open

New Delhi: In the last few years, the India Open Superseries badminton tournament has brought many memorable moments for the home shuttlers.

While the 2012 event helped Parupalli Kashyap secure a ‘lucky’ berth for the London Olympics, while home favourite Saina Nehwal — after several heartbreaks following her early exits in the tournament — finally lived her dream last year, reaching the World No.1 status before winning the women’s title.

This year, with the Rio Games looming, most of the shuttlers will aim to gain those crucial points (to make the cut) with a good show at the tournament, which starts with the qualifiers at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Tuesday.
The men’s field will be led by two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan and former World No.1 Lee Chong Wei, while the women’s line-up will have the top Chinese trio of Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian and Lee Xuerui. World No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain, however, has pulled out.

The hosts will bank on Saina and Kidambi Srikanth, 2015 winners, who will be keen to defend the points they collected last year, while Kashyap will miss out as he is still recovering from a knee injury. Srikanth says he enjoys playing in front of the home crowd and wants to take it as “an extra inpiration to do well”

“The last few months have been good. I am happy with the way I am playing even though I lost a few matches. So I am confident and want to continue doing that,” said the world no. 10.

Saina, who skipped a few tournaments early this year due to an ankle injury, would be eager to regain her form ahead of the Rio Games in August. Racing to make the qualification cut before the May 3 deadline, the in-form H.S. Prannoy (winner of the Swiss Open) and Ajay Jayaram will look to get some big wins in their kitty. Young B. Sai Praneeth, who defeated Lee in the All England opening round a few weeks ago, will also feature in the event.