After disappointing Aus Open, Saina, Srikanth & Sindhu look to bounce back in Indonesia

Jakarta: Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth would look to shrug aside their disappointing Australian Open outing with a much superior performance in the USD 800,000 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier to begin on Tuesday. For world no.1 Saina, who has won the title here thrice before (2009, 2010 and 2012), it will be real test of her character after the straight game loss to China’s Shixian Wang in the women’s singles quarterfinals at the Australian Open. [caption id=“attachment_1540939” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File Photo of Saina & Sindhu. PTI.[/caption] While Saina has been seeded second in the women’s singles event, world no.4 Srikanth is seeded fourth in the men’s singles competition. Besides Saina and Srikanth, two-time World Championships bronze medallist P V Sindhu, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, 2011 World Championships bronz medal-winning women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will also be vying for the top honours at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Other Indians competing in the tournament are Manu Attri, B Sumeeth Reddy, Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Akshay Dewalkar, H S Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram. In the opening round of the men’s singles event, Kashyap will play Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, while Srikanth will be up against Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus. Meanwhile in the women’s singles competition, Sindhu will take on Hsu Ya-Ching, while London Olympics bronze medallist Saina will square up against Thailand’s Nichaon Jindapon. Interestingly, if both Saina and Sindhu overcome their first round opponents, they will face each other in the second round. In the women’s doubles event, Jwala and Ashwini will meet Japanese pair of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao in the first round. PTI