Sindhu eyes elusive title

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu will look to break the jinx of losing major finals and better the colour of her medal when she spearheads the Indian challenge at the prestigious World Championship, starting here from Monday.

With two bronze medals in 2013 and 2014 and a silver last year, Sindhu has an impressive record at the meet. Her epic final against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara at Glasgow last year went down as one of the greatest matches of all time, clocking 110 minutes.

The 23-year-old from Hyderabad has been very consistent with six final appearances last year, out of which she won India Open, Korea Open and Syed Modi International but she lost the finals at Worlds, Dubai Super Series and Hong Kong.

This season too Sindhu entered summit clashes at India Open, Commonwealth Games and the Thailand Open but a title has eluded her and she would like to improve her win-loss statistic in major finals.

The Indian is likely to meet Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the third round. Crossing that hurdle will probably put her face-to-face with defending champion and familiar foe Nozomi Okuhara in the quarterfinals.

"I really want to do well in the World Championship. I have been preparing well. It is going to be a tough draw in the world championship, so I can't relax," said Sindhu, who will play Fitriani in her first game.

"I know everyone is talking about Nozomi and my match but before that there is Sung Ji Hyun, who is not an easy player. So that round would be equally important."

Saina Nehwal also bagged a silver and a bronze in 2015 and 2017 respectively and she would hope to shrug off her indifferent recent form and go full throttle.

The 28-year-old, who opens her campaign against either Swiss Sabrina Jaquet or Turkish Aliye Demirbağ, will have to battle past 2013 champion Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand and Olympic champion Carolina Marin in likely third round and quarterfinal matches respectively.

In the men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth, who clinched four titles last season and a silver at the Commonwealth Games this year, will too look to realise his long-term dream of winning a medal when he opens against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen. He is likely to meet Indonesia's Jonatan Christie, 13th seed, in the third round. HS Prannoy, who had a topsy-turvy season plagued by multiple injuries, will begin his campaign against Australia's Abhinav Manota.

In the men's doubles, CWG silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty face Olympic bronze medallists Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge of England.

CWG bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will square off against Chinese Taipei's Chiang Kai Hsin and Hung Shih Han in women's doubles.