Hylo Open: Ayush Shetty, Malvika Bansod to lead Indian challenge

As the Hylo Open, a Super 300 BWF World Tour event, starts on Tuesday in Saarbrucken, Germany, it will present Indian youngsters a chance to prove their mettle in a diluted field.

With the world's top five players giving the tournament a miss, World No. 9 Chou Tien Chen will be the top seed in the men's singles category.

From the Indian standpoint, the main attraction will be Ayush Shetty who has just made a runner-up finish in the Dutch Open, an event on the European Badminton Circuit.

Ayush delivered a sterling performance throughout the tournament before losing to Denmark's Mads Christophersen 10-21, 9-21 in the final.

The 19-year-old will open his campaign against Ade Resky Dwicahyo of Azerbaijan. A win in the first round will put Ayush up against the top seed Tien Chen, where he will face a tough challenge. But, Ayush will be motivated to prove his mettle against the seasoned Chinese Taipei shuttler.

Meanwhile, the former World Junior Championships silver medallist Sankar Subramanian faces a gritty Arnaud Merkle of France in the first round.

Sankar is fresh from making a semifinal finish at the Dutch Open, including a straight-game quarterfinal win over Julien Carragi. But he lost to Christophersen in the semifinals in a three-game thriller. At the Hylo Open, the shuttler from Chennai will aim for a deeper run on the BWF World Tour event.

If Sankar, 20, overcomes the first-round challenge, he will set himself up for an all-Indian clash in the Round of 16, where he will face off against either Chirag Sen or Sathish Kumar Karunakaran.

The other Indian men's singles in action will be Tharun who will face a qualifier in the first round.

In women's singles, sixth seed Malvika Bansod will be India's biggest title hope in the category, where the top seed is Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt. As Malvika is expected to get over Bulgaria's Hristomira Popovska quite easily in the first round, she might face a tricky challenge in the second round, where Germany's Yvonne Li is likely to face the Indian shuttler.

Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj will be the other Indian women's singles in the fray.

Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra will be India's sole representatives in the women's doubles segment. Priya and Shruti will open their campaign against Natasja Anthonisen and Maiken Fruergaard of Denmark.

In the mixed doubles main draw, Sathish will pair up with Aadya Variyath as India's sole representative in the category.

The Indian pair will take on Adam Pringle and Rachel Andrew of Scotland in the first round. They aim to scale up their showing after a string of below-par shows.

Streaming info

There are no confirmed sources of live streaming of the Hylo Open Super 300 in India. The BWF's official YouTube channel, BWF TV, will live stream the event.