PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth gear up for Spanish Masters Challenge Badminton News

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and ace men’s badminton player Kidambi Srikanth will continue their European tour at the Spanish Masters in Madrid starting on Tuesday. Last year’s finalist Sindhu, the second seed here, will face Canada’s Wenyu Zhang in the last 32, while seventh seed Srikanth will participate in the qualifiers. Sindhu, who suffered a heavy loss to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the previous tournament, will be hoping to hold on until the end. Srikanth, who ended the just-concluded Swiss Open Super 300 after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Chun-Yi Lin in the semi-finals, will be hoping to make an impact after withdrawing from the Paris Olympics competition.

Srikanth, who is playing in his ninth tournament this season and most recently reached the semi-finals for the first time in 16 months at the Swiss Open, will feature Kiran George and Satish Karunaka Sathish Karunakaran accompanied him in the competition.

Among other Indian players, Ashmita Chaliha will play her opening match against fourth seed and former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, while Malvika Malvika Bansod will compete with American Iris Wang for a spot in the top 16.

Lakshay Sen, a semi-finalist at this year’s All England Championships, has withdrawn from the tournament. The fifth seed was originally scheduled to face Japanese player Takuma Obayashi, ranked 39th in the world, but decided not to participate in this match.

Sen reached the quarterfinals of the French Open but was eliminated in the second round of the Swiss Open.

Three Indian pairs appeared in the women’s doubles main draw, led by fifth seeds Teresa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. The pair suffered a disappointing straight-sets loss to Australia’s Setiana Mapasa and Angela Yu in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open.

Third seeds Tanisha Krasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will also try their luck here after losing in the second round in Basel, while Ashwini Bhatt and Shikhar Gautam are the third seed Indian women’s doubles team.

In men’s doubles, Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratik will face fourth seeds Don Adam and Yakula Neal of Canada, while eighth seeds Arjun and De Rufus Capila will face the Mexican pair of Job Castillo and Luis Armando Montoya Navarro.