Nehwal, Kidambi Raring to Go – Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2018 Preview
The HSBC BWF World Tour moved into New Delhi this week for the Yonex-Sunrise Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta India Open 2018, with the country’s most popular stars confident of living up to expectations.
· DEV SUKUMAR
Saina Nehwal, Pusarla V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth lead India’s challenge into an event they have each won; for Nehwal in particular, this week would be a good test to see if her form holds, as she was runner-up in Indonesia last week.
The Indian was mostly out of the limelight last year, but 2018 seems to
have begun well with some impressive performances in Indonesia. The fourth seed’s biggest challenge early on could be the quarter-finals, against USA’s Beiwen Zhang, followed by a likely semi-final against Spain’s Carolina Marin. A Nehwal-Pusarla final is a strong possibility; but players like Marin and Zhang in the lower half and Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the top half could play spoilsport for the home crowd. The dark horse to watch out for is China’s Gao Fangjie, runner-up at the China Open last year, who is in Marin’s quarter.