2019 Hong Kong Open: Indian contingent, draw, timings - All you need to know

The Hong Kong Open is an annual badminton tournament held in Hong Kong and is organised by Hong Kong Badminton Association. The tournament is also a part of HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500.

The 2019 Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open is all set to commence from 12th November 2019 with two hundred of the world's best badminton players ready to battle for one of the seven BWF World Tour Super 500 events at Hong Kong Coliseum, Hunghom.

A brief history

The Hong Kong Badminton Association is hosting the Hong Kong Open since 1982, but it did not take place annually. The event was upgraded to a 6-star event from 2004 to 2006. It became one of the Super Series tournaments in 2007. The BWF categorized the Hong Kong Open as a BWF World Tour Super 500 as per new BWF events structure since 2018.

In 2008, Wang Chen became the first home player to win the Hong Kong Open title. Legendary Indian shuttler Prakash Padukone claimed the first Hong Kong Open title in 1982 and is the only Indian male to clinch the title. Saina Nehwal is the first and only Indian woman to win the Hong Kong Open title in 2010.

Prize Money

In 2007, the tournament offered total prize money of USD250,000. It was later increased from USD250,000 to USD350,000 in 2012. In 2016, the total prize money was further increased to USD400,000 and has now become one of the BWF Tour events with whopping prize money equalling 3.1 million Hong Kong Dollars.

Indian contingent at the 2019 Hong Kong Open

Kidambi Srikanth, B. Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Parupalli Kashyap, H.S. Prannoy and Sourabh Verma will try to leave their mark at the men's singles event of the 2019 Hong Kong Open. While the No.6 seed PV Sindhu and No.8 seed Saina Nehwal are the only Indian women to feature in the women's singles event.

In the men's double section - Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will team up to try their luck at the Super 500 event. On the other hand, the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy is the only Indian women's team in the women's doubles draw.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy will feature in the mixed doubles event.

2019 Hong Kong Open draw

Sourabh Verma will face Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the opening round of the Men's singles qualifiers for a place in the main draw of Men's singles event - where four qualifiers will enter.

While Indian ace star Kidambi Srikanth faces a tough task ahead of him as he faces the No.1 seed Kento Momota in the first round of the 2019 Hong Kong Open. On the other hand, Sameer Verma will open up against Wang Tzu Wei and B. Sai Praneeth will play against No. 3 seed Shi Yu Qi. H.S. Prannoy is drawn against Huang Yu Xiang and Parupalli Kashyap against Kenta Nishimoto.

On the women's side, Saina Nehwal will open her 2019 Hong Kong Open campaign against Cai Yan Yan and PV Sindhu will play Kim Ga Eun. The two players are drawn in different halves of the draw with Sindhu featuring in a relatively tough draw.

In the men's doubles section, the team of Satwiksairaj Rakireddy and Chirag Shetty will play their first match against the Japanese pair - Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kibayashi. While in the women's doubles section, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy will play against Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygsen in the first round. Satwiksairaj Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa play Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Savitree Amitrapai in the opening round.

Match timings

The 2019 Hong Kong Open will start on 12th November 2019 and will conclude on 17th November 2019. The morning matches will start from 6:30 IST and the last match of the day will start at 15:00 IST.