Lakshya, Sindhu spearhead India’s challenge in Swiss Open

Basel (Switzerland), Mar 18 (PTI) Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen is expected to continue his purple patch, while two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will strive to regain top form at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament, beginning here on Tuesday.

After first-round losses at the Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 earlier in the year, Sen has gained momentum. The 22-year-old enters the USD 210,000 tournament on the back of semifinal appearances at the French Open and All England Championships.

The seventh-seeded Indian will open his campaign against Malaysian Leong Jun Hao and is likely to cross paths with 2021 world champion Lee Zii Jia.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth will face Asian Games bronze medallist Wang Tzu-wei of Chinese Taipei in the first round while young Priyanshu Rajawat will take on Hong Kong’s fourth seed Lee Cheuk Yiu.

After making headway in the French Open earlier this month, Sindhu, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from a left knee injury, made an early exit from the All England Championship. She was guilty of committing several unforced errors and the former world champion would look to improve on that aspect.

The fourth-seeded Indian will once again meet Germany’s Yvonne Li, who retired against Sindhu in the All England Championship opener last week.

She will face a tough customer in Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the quarterfinals and if she manages to tame the Thai shuttler, Sindhu is likely to face in-form reigning All England champion and nemesis Carolina Marin of Spain.

The other Indian in the fray in the women’s singles, Aakrashi Kashyap has a tough draw. She will open her campaign against Canada’s Michelle Li and if she emerges victorious, she will face the winner of the clash between Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara and seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.

The sixth-seeded pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, who have been in good touch, will cross swords with the Indonesian combination of Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who have been seeded eighth, will have to fight it out against the American duo of Annie Xu and Kerry Xu.