Singapore SS: QF clash between Sindhu & Marin on cards; Srikanth & co. need to buckle up

THE SINGAPORE SUPER SERIES tournament kick-started today and leading the women's singles category will be PV Sindhu while Kidambi Srikanth is the star shuttler among the Indian men's singles category.

Sindhu will want to put behind her bad performance at Malaysia SSP where she was ousted after the first round. She faces Nozomi Okuhara in the opening round which can pose a threat but knowing Sindhu, she should be able to overcome the Japanese shuttler who leads the head-to-head count 3-2.

And if Sindhu manages to go into the second then her next challenge would be once again Carolina Marin whom she is likely to face off in the quarter-finals. This tournament stands as a good chance for Sindhu to add once more SS title to her name also because her compatriot Saina Nehwal has decided to skip the tournament.

Saina too ended her campaign at Malaysia SSP after losing in the opening round. She is yet to reach her full strength and play her best. Reason for her skipping this tournament is that she wants more time on training.

"Yes, I withdrew from the tournaments as I feel I need some more time training to get better. I will play Asia Badminton Champion next," said to PTI.

Youngster Ritupanra Das has earned the place and will face Hsu Ya Ching in first round.

In the men's singles, Srikanth has makes his comeback after skipping the Malaysia SSP due to training. So a lot is expected from the shuttler whose first round opponent is yet to be decided. If he proceeds further in the tournament, in the quarters he may face fellow Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram or 5th seed Shi Yuqi.

Ajay faces a challenge in the opening round as he is up against Yuqi but if the Indian can display the same kind of performance as he did in Malaysia, it will be a great boost and advantage to his campaign.

Sameer Verma begins his campaign against Hu Yun while Sai Praneeth will face Emil Holst in the first round. Sourabh Verma earned a spot in the main round after winning his qualifying matches.

In the doubles section representing India in men's are Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy and Arjun MR/Shlok Ramachandran who earned their spot in the main draw after winning their respective qualifying rounds. It's a big task for Attri/Reddy as they take on 3rd seeds Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda in the opening round.

In the women's category, Sanjana Santosh/Aarthi Sunil who will face top seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi while Sikki Reddy/Ashwini Ponnappa will play Yin Loo Lim/Yap Cheng Wen and finally Meghana/Poorvisha play 3rd seeds Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan.

In the mixed doubles Ashwini Ponnppa/Sumeeth Reddy had an easy first round outing against compatriots Venkat Prasad/Juhi Dewangan 21-13, 21-14. 

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