Indian shuttlers eye improvement against challenging draw at Indonesia Masters

Indian shuttlers would eye a drastic improvement after last week’s disappointing home run when they go up against a demanding draw at the $500,000 Indonesia Masters, which gets underway on Tuesday.

At the India Open in New Delhi last week, Lakshya Sen bowed out in the men’s singles quarterfinals, while no Indian progressed beyond the last eight in any category as Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi and world number one A Se Young of Korea clinched the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively.

The focus now shifts to Jakarta, where Indian shuttlers will face a challenging line-up in the opening rounds with several tough ties against higher-ranked opponents.

Seventh seed Lakshya, who won the Australian Open last year, will be hurting after his run at the India Open was cut short by Lin in the last eight stage. He will look to make a good start when he opens his campaign against Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh, while HS Prannoy faces a stern test against Malaysia’s former world Number 2 and Paris Olympics bronze-medallist Lee Zii Jia.

Former world Number 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who reached the finals at Malaysia Masters and Syed Modi International last year, will take on Japan’s Koki Watanabe, while Tharun Mannepalli is drawn against Yushi Tanaka of Japan. US Open champion Ayush Shetty has been handed a tough draw against third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, who reached the finals at the India Open.

After a disappointing first-round exit at the India Open, it will be yet another tough outing for the 20-year-old.

In women’s singles, fifth seed PV Sindhu, who started the season after recovering from a foot injury, will begin her campaign against Japan’s Manami Suizu.

World Number 12 Sindhu endured a first-round exit at the India Open after going down to Vietnam’s World Number 23 Nguyen Thuy Linh. The young and promising Tanvi Sharma, a junior world Championships silver-medallist, is drawn against fourth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan.

Sharma had produced a fearless show last week, coming close to beating Tokyo Olympics champion Chen Yu Fei before falling short in a three-game thriller.

Teenager Unnati Hooda would hope to be up for the challenge when she faces top seed Chen Yufei in her opening round, while Malvika Bansod will fight it out against sixth seed Michelle Li of Canada.