The draw for the Arctic Open Badminton is out, that marks the return of star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen. As per the BWF website, Sindhu is scheduled to face Canada’s Michelle Li, who is ranked 32nd in the world. The World No. 14 Indian will play her first competition after the Paris Olympics, where she returned without a medal, and lost to the eventual silver medalist He Bing Jiao.
PV Sindhu Returns at Arctic Open
Come the second round, Sindhu, most likely will be up against Tomoka Miyazaki — the World No. 17. If all goes well, and she cruises to the quarters, she could be up against Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, who won a bronze medal at Paris. Beating her would be no less than a challenge, but the 29-year-old has a decent 10-2 record versus her.
In the final, though a long shot, she could face top players like Ratchanok Itnanon or Wang Zhi Yi in the final. This would be also be the first time that Sindhu plays with her new coaching team of Anup Sridhar and Lee Hyun of Korea.
On the other hand, Paris semi-finalist Lakshya Sen will also be in action after Paris Olympics heartbreak. Drawn in the first half, he would face Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the first round. Next up could be Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, followed by Anders Antonsen in the quarters.
There will be host of other Indians involved in the tournament as well. In women’s singles there will Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap as well. In women’s doubles. there will be Rituparna Panda and Swetparna Panda. Unfortunately, the World No. 4 pair of Satwik/Chirag still continue to be off the court.
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