Shuttlers look strong at the China SSP, as Saina, Srikanth fight to retain title

THE NEXT TOURNAMENT awaiting the shuttlers is the China Open Super Series Premier (SSP) which will be held from 10th to 15th November in Haixia Olympic Sports Center in Fuzhou, China.

In the men's singles Parupalli Kashyap won't be playing as he is out of action for two months due to injury that he picked up during the French Open pre-quarter match.

The men's category will be led by Kidambi Srikanth who rose one spot to be the 5th in the world ranking. Lately he hasn't been performing at his best, losing in the first-two rounds of the last four tournaments before the Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold (GPG). Going one step ahead in the ranking and he being the defending champion should give him the boost to perform well at China. His first round opponent in China is Hu Yun of Honk Kong. He is likely to face World No. 3 from China Lin Dan in the quarter-final which would be a real test for the Indian shuttler.

The other two in the men's category are HS Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram who have had a good run. Jayaram won the Dutch Open Grand Prix for the second time now, but in the Denmark and French Open he failed to repeat the heroics. Now since he has had good time to rest he should be able to live up to the expectation. He has tough challenge in the first round itself playing the no. 1 shuttler from China Cheng Long.

On the other hand HS Prannoy, dropped to 21 in the ranking but will have his morale boosted after he stunned reigning Olympian Lin Dan in the first round at the French Open SS. Prannoy did not progress much ahead in the tournament but this one win has changed him as a player. He is no more just another shuttler to face, he will be taken as a serious and also dangerous to be up against. At the same time he should not be carried away instead take it as an opportunity to flourish and perform even better.

His preparation are in full swing despite his toe injury, "The pain is there, but I can’t do much about it. It will be there for the next couple of months. My preparation is going really well, one more week left for China Open,” Prannoy (as told to thestatesman.com)

The women's singles category will be again led by World No. 2 Saina Nehwal who is also not fully fit at present which is quite evident in her recent performance. She too has got enough time to get back strong and show that she is a fighter. She told TOI after the loss in Paris,

"I had some pain in my right leg after the World Championships, so it is taking me time to get 100 percent fit. It's an Olympic year so there is no time to take break. I cannot afford to miss any tournament to protect my ranking... there is less pain in the pelvic area now. I was suffering from pain in the abdomen for almost one-and-half months but that is over. It was painful reaching the net due to all this and it reflected in my results. Taking rest has helped me a lot and I am trying to get my fitness up."

Just like she herself has accepted that she needs to get back, she has no option but to get back with her best performance. She will face Sun Yun of China in the first round, Yun would be the crowd favourite as she hails from China but Nehwal's comeback performance should be challenging for the Chinese.

On the other hand PV Sindhu has had a great run, she was runners-up at the Denmark Open Super Series Premier, her first super series appearance. She also did something extra-ordinary that is defeated Carolina Marin from Spain, the world no. 1

Sindhu achieved this at the same event as mentioned above in the semi-finals. The match that went on for one hour and 14 minutes ended in the Indian's favour, the final score being 21-15, 18-21, 21-17. This would be the best boost that the 20 year old has which should help her perform even better. Her first match is against Ksenia Polikarpova of Russia, if she moves ahead it is likely that she will face Marin again in China in the quarter-final stage.

One more week to go for china open 😊😊... #getting ready# preparations going on 💪💪✌# pic.twitter.com/LoTns686Sh

— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) October 30, 2015

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have not been up to the mark with their performance in their last few tournaments. They have been ousted in the first or the second rounds, ranked 11 in the world, the shuttlers best performance came in Canada earlier this year.

Back then they had told that their aim was to get in the top 10 before the Olympics, so in order to do so they need to up their game and give their opponents a tough fight and also win games. Their first round match is against Japanese pair Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao and moving ahead they are likely to meet the pair from Denmark Christina Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl (ranked 3) in the second round.

The men's doubles pair Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy withdrew from the tournament.