All England Badminton C'ship: Sindhu gets easy draw, tough challenge for Saina & Kashyap

India's ace badminton player PV Sindhu gets a comparatively easier draw at the All England Badminton Championship starting from March 17. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday released the draw for the Super 1000 event in Birmingham, England. Sindhu has been drawn against Malaysia's Soniia Cheah in the first round of women's singles. She could face Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the quarter-finals and Carolina Marin in the semis. Marin has been given top seeding for the tournament, whereas Sindhu has been seeded 5th.

Shuttler couple Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap have to face a challenging draw. The London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal has been drawn against Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt in the first round. Blichfeldt had beaten Sindhu at the Yonex Thailand Open last month and was part of the Denmark team at the European Mixed Team Championships.

In the men's singles event, Kashyap will face world No. 1 Japanese Kento Momota, who is supposed to return on the court after recovering from COVID-19.

Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth will also face a tough challenge when he faces Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in the opening round. World championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth will face Frenchman Toma Junior Popov.

The 2021 All England Open will be the second tournament this year to offer ranking points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, after the Swiss Open. Indian squad is scheduled to play Swiss Open that starts from 3rd March and all top Indians will be seen in action at the event.

All England Open 2021 for Indian players

Women's Singles

PV Sindhu vs Soniia Cheah (Malaysia)

Saina Nehwal vs Mia Blichfeldt (Denmark)

Men's Singles

Kidambi Srikanth vs Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia)

Parupalli Kashyap vs Kento Momota (Japan)

Lakshya Sen vs Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Thailand)

HS Prannoy vs Liew Daren (Malaysia)

Sameer Verma vs Ygor Coelho (Brazil)

B Sai Praneeth vs Toma Junior Popov (France)

Men's Doubles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty vs Eloi Adam/Julien Maio (France)

MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila vs Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi (Malaysia)

Women's Doubles

Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy vs Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard (Thailand)

Meghana Jakkampudi/Poorvisha Ram vs Alexandre Boje/Mette Poulsen (Denmark)

Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam vs Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith (England)

Mixed Doubles

Dhruv Kapila/Meghana Jakkampudi vs Praveen Jordan/Melati Oktavianti (Indonesia)

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Ashwini Ponnappa vs Yuki Kaneko/Misaki Matsutomo (Japan)

Pranaav Jerry Chopra/ N Sikki Reddy vs Max Flynn/Jessica Pugh (England)

Also read: Badminton: Olympic qualification period extends; Gopichand calls it welcome move