CHENNAI: The creme de la creme of Indian badminton, save PV Sindhu, face a tough start to the year. With all of them unseeded thanks to a below par 2019, the luck of the draw has meant that they are facing tough challenges in January. Kidambi Srikanth, for example, begins his 2020 with a meeting against World No 2, Chou Tien Chen, in the Malaysia Masters. His next assignment, Indonesia Masters, could see him face off against Viktor Axelsen, World No 5, in the second round. Srikanth, the World No 12, had a bad 2019 and needs wins on the board if he wants to qualify for the Olympics as a seeded player. In his quest to do that, he has also opted to play the Thailand Masters, a World Tour Super 300 meet, beginning January 21.
Srikanth isn’t the only men’s singles player to face this fate. Parupalli Kashyap will open his season with a meeting against World No 1 Kento Momota. A week later, he will face World No 7 Anthony Ginting. Meanwhile, Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth could face Anders Antonsen (World No 3) and Jonathan Christie (World No 6) in the second round of the Malaysia Masters. Suffice to say, it’s less than ideal considering this being an Olympic year. Kashyap, though, isn’t too worried about points. “That’s secondary to me,” he says. “It’s about performing on that day, it will obviously be a tough test but I am looking forward to it.” To compound matters, the 33-year-old sustained a toe injury in the off season and has only got back to training a week ago.
The quarterfinalist from the 2012 Games has targeted a good showing at the All England Championships in March to haul himself into contention for a Tokyo berth. “But the main thing is to be healthy. The results will follow.” The leading women’s singles players — PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal — have received better draws than their male counterparts. Even then, the former could run into World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarters in Malaysia. Curiously, Sindhu and Saina could face each other in the second round in Indonesia.
Ashwini a doubt
The doubles players, though, face a trickier test. To begin with, there is an injury cloud over Ashwini Ponnappa. “I don’t know if I will be able to play with Ashwini,” Sikki says. “The injury she had at Syed Modi has not completely gone away so it could just be mixed doubles (with Pranaav) for me.” They open with a meeting against World No 1 pair of Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong. And the task at hand isn’t lost on her. “First round of a new season so anything can happen,” she says. “With just eight-nine tournaments remaining, we need to win matches. And if we can manage to get a few good wins, we will be able to do that.”
The draw hasn’t even spared Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. They may be the country’s doubles bet across the three divisions but their reward is a possible second meeting against the World No 8 in Malaysia. In Indonesia, they face World No 2 and local favourites Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the first stanza. After enduring a miserable 2019, can they overturen recent history? Time, as always, will tell.
Bad draws for shuttlers
Some of India’s elite shuttlers will be facing the cream of the crop in the first round in the year’s opening two events...
Malaysia Masters
Men’s singles
Kashyap vs Kento Momota (x1)
Srikanth vs Chou Tien Chen (x2)
Mixed doubles
Pranaav/Sikki vs Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (x1)
Satwik/Ashwini vs Huang
Dong Ping/ Wang Yi Liu (x2)
Indonesia Masters Men’s singles
Kashyap vs Anthony Ginting (x7)
Prannoy vs Jonathan Christie (x6)
Praneeth vs Shi Yu Qi (x8)
Men’s doubles
Satwik/Chirag vs Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (x2)