PV Sindhu. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Lakshya Sen’s heroics at the German Open gave fresh impetus to India’s hopes of breaking the two-decade jinx at the All England Championships.
Ever since Pullela Gopichand became the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the prestigious All England in 2001, no Indian has won this coveted title.
Though Saina Nehwal came close to triumphing at Birmingham, they faltered at the final hurdle. PV Sindhu reached the semifinals twice.
But 20-year-old Lakshya, World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, Sindhu and men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have the ability to go the distance at this event.
Lakshya, who shocked Olympic champion and world No.1 Viktor Axelsen in the semifinals and mauled Olympic bronze medallist Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia last week, is the top Indian bet at the Championships. Blisters and the three-game semifinal, slowed Lakshya in the final.
The youngster, who won the India Open Super 500 in January, will begin against compatriot Sourabh Verma on Wednesday. He may face a tough second round opponent in either world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore or third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
Srikanth will face Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the first round and may run into Anthony Ginting in the second. Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, got a tough first round encounter against top seed Axelsen. The return of Kento Momota of Japan makes the field quite strong in men’s singles.
Sixth seed PV Sindhu plays Wang Zhi Yi, a tricky Chinese player in the first round. Sindhu may run into second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarterfinals and either Chen Yu Fei or He Bing Jiao in the last four stage. Though the Indian is not in great form, she has a knack of raising her performance in big tournaments.
Saina, who is also in the same half as Sindhu, squares up against Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in the first round.
Doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag got an easy draw and are expected to reach the quarterfinals without breaking much sweat.
The talented pair are yet to live up to their billing. Though they have defeated all the top teams in the circuit and are one of the most feared, they are yet to win a major title.
The fifth seeds are expected to clash with top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia at the last eight stage. A victory at that stage will bolster their title hopes.
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