Badminton
Taipei Open: HS Prannoy set to lead Indian challenge; Saina Nehwal pulls out
Indian shuttler HS Prannoy will lead the challenge in Taipei Open while Saina Nehwal pulled out of the tournament.
HS Prannoy, ranked tenth, is India's top-ranked men's singles player. (Photo credit: Badminton Photo/BAI)
Determined to put the semifinal loss in Indonesia behind HS Prannoy is ready to showcase his excellent form as he leads the Indian contingent at the Taipei Open badminton tournament, commencing on Tuesday.
As the third seed, ranked ninth in the world, Prannoy will begin his campaign in the men's singles against a qualifier in this BWF World Tour Super 300 event.
After an impressive performance at the Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 tournament, where he reached the semifinals only to lose to world No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark (15-21 15-21), Prannoy is eager to make amends and emerge victorious.
Joining Prannoy in the men's singles category are Meiraba Luwang Maisnam, who will face fifth seed Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong, Kiran George, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Mithun Manjunath, and S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian.
Subhankar Dey and Parupalli Kashyap will need to go through the qualifiers to secure their spots.
India's top women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have skipped the Super 300 meet.
Veteran Saina Nehwal, who was the highest-ranked Indian in the women's singles draw, has withdrawn alongside youngster Malvika Bansod.
Men's top-seed singles player Kodai Naraoka has also pulled out and has been replaced by Parupalli Kashyap.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist will open his campaign against qualifier Samuel Hsiao of Germany on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, the star men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who made history by winning the Super 1000 event, will not participate in Taipei. Instead, Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, the eighth seeds, will lead India's charge in the men's doubles and begin their campaign against Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan of the USA.
Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda will represent India in the women's doubles, while Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy, as well as Navaneeth Bokka and Priya Konjengbam, will compete in the mixed doubles.
The BWF World Tour comprises six levels: World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300, with the BWF Tour Super 100 level also offering ranking points.
