COPENHAGEN: Olympic medalist P V Sindhu has been handed a first-round bye in the women’s singles draw for the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, from August 21-27, reported Olympics.com on Thursday.
The draw for the World Championships was held at the BWF headquarters at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday.
Former World Champion Sindhu, seeded 16th in the tournament, could play Japanese star and her rival Nozomi Okuhara in the second round, who beat Sindhu in the 2017 championships final before the Indian shuttler avenged her loss in the 2019 World Championships at Basel.
Both Nozomi Okuhara and P V Sindhu have been struggling with their form this year.
Indian men’s shuttlers received favourable draws. Ninth seed Prannoy H S will open his campaign against World No. 56 Kalle Koljonen of Finland while the 11th seed and Commonwealth Games champion will play World No. 110 Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius in the first round.
Kidambi Srikanth, World No. 20 in rankings, was unseeded in the draw, but will face a tough opponent, Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto, ranked 15th in the first round. The Indian shuttler has a solid record of six wins and three losses against Nishimoto.
Men’s doubles second seeds Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy received a bye in the opening round and the same was the case with Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, the 15th seeds in women’s doubles.
Sindhu, the 2019 world champion, silver medallist in 2017 and 2018 and bronze medal winner in 2013 and 2014 is India’s most successful player at the championships.
Men’s singles
- HS Prannoy vs Kalle Koljonen (Finland)
- Lakshya Sen vs Georges Julien Paul (Mauritius)
- Kidambi Srikanth vs Kenta Nishimoto (Japan)
Women’s singles
- PV Sindhu – bye
Men’s doubles
- Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – bye
Women’s doubles
- Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand – bye
- Ashwini Bhat K/Shikha Gautam vs Cheryl Seinen/Debora Jille (Netherlands)
Mixed doubles
- Rohan Kapoor/N Sikki Reddy vs Adam Hall/Julie Macpherson (Scotland)
- Venkat Prasad/Juhi Dewangan vs Jones Ralfy Jansen/Linda Efler (Germany). (ANI)