Sindhu favourite, as Saina pulls out of Indian GPG

THE BABU BANARASI DAS INDOOR STADIUM in Lucknow is all set to host the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship starting from 26th-31st January. In the absence of Saina Nehwal, Sindhu who recently won the Malaysia Masters GPG will be the favourite to win the women's singles title.

In a statment released by the sources of Badminton Association of India (BAI) has told Times of India that the World no. 2 is not completely fit,

"She has decided to skip the tournament. She will not play. That is what the information we have with us, Saina will be coming but will not be playing. She is not in a position to play and risk her injury. At the most, if BAI president insists she may make a token presence."

Third seed Sindhu will be high on confidence after her dominant run at the Malaysia Masters and her opponent in the first round will be announced after the qualification round. It will be a great battle if these two Indian stalwarts play in the final as the fans missed the same in the Premier Badminton League.

In the men's singles category, the seeded shuttlers are as follows: Srikanth (1), HS Prannoy (5), Ajay Jayaram (6), Kashyap (4), Sai Praneeth (15). Out of these Srikanth had a good run at the Malaysia Masters reaching the semi-finals. Last year in this tournament he lost to Kashyap and will look to avenge his defeat. The top seed begins his campaign against Vatannejad-Soroush Eskandari from Iraq. 

On the other hand, Ajay only managed to reach the quarters where he was ousted by Lee Chong in Malaysia. His opponent in this tournament is not announced till now. Ajay also enjoyed a good outing in PBL as he remained unbeaten. 

The other seeded shuttlers will be playing their first international tournament after the league. Defending champion Kashyap who was out of action for two months due to injury last year, returned to the court with PBL. But he disappointed his team and his fans with his inconsistency. Going ahead, he will look to get into his groove at the earliest. He begins his first round match against Pablo Abian from Spain and their head-to-head count is in favour of the Indian (1-0).

Prannoy and Praneeth had their own share of ups and downs in the league but gave their best. They would want to continue with same confidence going into the tournament. Prannoy will play Huang Yuxiang of China and they will play for the first time against each other. Praneeth too faces his opponent for the first time, Farzin Khanjani from Iraq.

The other Indian shuttlers in the men's category include: 

The men's doubles category include leading men's pair Manu Attri/ B Sumeeth Reddy play V Shem Goh/ Wee Kiong Tan (Malaysia) and the head-to-head count between the two is levelled at 1-1. The others in this category are:

The women's doubles is led by sixth seed Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa who will face Heather Oliver/ Lauren Smith (England). The others in this category are as follows: 

The mixed doubles include