CHENNAI: India's elite badminton players will once again be in focus as they aim for a good show at the China Masters, which begins on Tuesday.
Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth (both men's singles) will lead the Indian charge alongside young faces like Tanvi Sharma, Devika Sihag and Unnati Hooda (all women's singles). PV Sindhu is one of the big faces, who will not be part of the Super 750 tournament in Shenzhen, Guangdong.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, meanwhile, will be the country's leading faces in the doubles department. Hariharan Amsakarunana and MR Arjun are also part of the draw. However, World Championships bronze medallist Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly won't be part of the competition.
This is last event for Indians to gain some valuable form ahead of the Asian Games, which is scheduled to be held later this month.
Lakshya had suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of Garret Tan of USA during the Worlds and he'll be intent on making amends. However, he faces a stiff test as he'll be upcoming against an in-form Victor Lai, who captured a bronze medal. Srikanth, on the other hand, will face Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in the opening round.
In the women's singles section, Unnati, who was eliminated in the Round of 32 stage in the aforementioned Worlds, will begin her campaign against Kim Ga Eun. Promising youngster Tanvi, who'll be taking part in her second Super 750 event after the India Open earlier this year, will open against World No 40 Amalie Schulz of Denmark. Devika will meet Kaloyana Nalbantova of Bulgaria.
SatChi, who are the No 4 seeds, will take on Malaysian pair of Junaidi Arif and Kang Khai Xing. It's an important event for SatChi as they look to gain competitive edge ahead of Asiad.
Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, who reached the Round of 16 stage in the Worlds, will lead the country's hopes in the mixed doubles category. They could meet reigning world champs Thom Giquel and Delphine Delrue of they manage to win their opening match.
