Birmingham, March 14 (Agency) Top players from around the world including the Tokyo Olympics medal winners will clash in the All England Open, the world’s oldest badminton tournament which is set to start at the Utilita Arena Birmingham on March 16. With 155 matches, the meet will see five days of world class action. A total of 128 singles competitors and 96 teams will compete in the event from March 16-20 for the one of the most prestigious trophies. India will look to end a title drought as only two Indians have won the Open since it started in 1899. Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win the singles title in 1980. Pullela Gopichand became the second to win in 2001.
Saina Nehwal was the runner-up in 2015. Two-time Olympic medallist and 2019 world champion P V Sindhu, Nehwal, Lakshya Sen and world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth will be among nine Indians in the singles competition. In the doubles, there will be 13 Indians including the men’s team of Satwik Sairaj and Chirag Shetty and the experienced women Ashiwni Ponappa and N Sikky Reddy. In the women’s singles, Sindhu has been seeded sixth and drawn with Wang Zhi Yi of China. Nehwal will face Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in her first round. In the men’s singles, Srikanth will begin his campaign against Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand.
Young sensation Lakshya will open his campaign against compatriot Sourabh Verma and could face current world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore or third-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the second round. Sai Praneeth will face top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark while Parupalli Kashyap is set to meet Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, seeded fifth. Satwik and Chirag are drawn to play against Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall in the preliminary round. Another men’s pair, Dhruv Kapila and M R Arjun, will face Indonesians Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, seeded second.
In women’s doubles, the top Indian pair of Ashwini and Sikki will take on Japanese Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi. In mixed doubles, Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan will kick start their campaign against Malaysians Hoo Pang Ron and Cheah Yee See. Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto will play their first round match against fifth seeded Indonesians Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti.