Inconsistent Saina looks to get back magic touch

Saina had won three Super Series title -- Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong -- besides winning the Commonwealth Games and India Open Grand Prix gold last year but this year, a Super Series title has eluded the Indian.

Consistency, which was her forte last year, has betrayed Saina this season and even though the 21-year-old won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and finished runner-up at Malaysia and Indonesia, she had a few first and second round exits.

Come Wednesday, the world number four Saina will take on Hong Kong’s Tsz Ka Chan in her tournament opener. In the men’s singles, P Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram have been handed out tough draws as the unseeded Indians face top-10 players in the opening round.

Kashyap will take on Lin Dan while Ajay Jayaram will be up against sixth seed Sho Sasaki in the opening round.

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa face Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark. Jwala and V Diju take on the local combo of Wai Hong Wong and Hoi Wah Chau in the mixed doubles opener, while Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas will play Chris Adcock and Andrew Ellis in men’s doubles event.

In the qualifiers, Sourabh Varma will face Ka Long Ng, Arvind Bhat will play Wing Chiu Tsang and RMV Gurusaidutt will be up against Toby Ng in the men’s singles.

PV Sindhuwill face Wing Chiu Tsang of Hong Kong in the first round of qualification on Tuesday.