Sindhu, Saina to lead Indian challenge in Denmark Open badminton
Odense (Denmark), Oct 15 : Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will lead a strong Indian challenge at the Denmark Open badminton tournament which gets underway here on Tuesday.
While Sindhu has been seeded third in the event, world no.11 Saina is unseeded here.
Sindhu will take on USA's Beiwen Zhang in the opening round of the women's singles. Saina, on the other hand, will be up against Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong.
In men's singles competition, world no.6 Kidambi Srikanth will be India's best bet and has been seeded seventh in the tournament.
Srikanth will face Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark in the opening round, while B Sai Praneeth will play Huang Yuxiang of China.
However, it will be a difficult opening encounter for another Indian, Sameer Verma, as he will square off against third seed Shi Yuqi of China.
The other Indian in fray, HS Prannoy also faces a tough first round match as he will be up against sixth seed Son Wan Ho of Korea.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who lost his passport at Amsterdam and sought the Indian government's help on Friday, however doesn't feature in the men's singles draw.
In men's doubles, the Indian pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on local hope Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the opening round.
Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will face the Korean combination of Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung in the first round of the mixed doubles competition.
Ponappa will pair up with N Sikki Reddy and play the American duo of Ariel Lee and Sydney Lee in the opening round of the women's doubles event.
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I am back home: All England missed, Sindhu lands back in Bengaluru from Dubai
Bengaluru (PTI): Two-time Olympic medal-winning Indian badminton star P V Sindhu, who was stranded in Dubai due to closure of airspace in the Gulf region, has returned to the country after pulling out of the All England Championships in Birmingham.
Sindhu posted on X to announce that she is back in the city.
"Back home in Bangalore and safe. The last few days have been intense and uncertain, but I'm truly grateful to be back to my house," she posted.
"A heartfelt thank you to the incredible ground teams, Dubai authorities, airport staff, immigration, and every single person who stepped up and took such good care of us during a very difficult time. The empathy and professionalism meant more than words can say.
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"For now, it's time to rest, reset, and figure out the next steps," she added.
The former world champion was on her way to Birmingham via Dubai, when she was stranded after the flight operations were suspended in the Gulf region following the US and Israeli bombing of Iran.
Iran subsequently retaliated, hitting Dubai as well.
"Moments like these remind you how fragile normal life really is," she had posted on February 28 while revealing some details of her ordeal, which included an explosion near her place of stay.
She had described the experience as "extremely tense and scary moment" for her and her team, including Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama.
