Badminton
Indian shuttlers bound for the 2019 BWF World Championships have been handed a relatively easy draw for the competition scheduled to be held in Basel, Switzerland.
Indian women Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu were given byes in the opening round and should - at least on paper - have a relatively straightforward path in the singles competition until the quarter-finals.
The tournament will run from 19-25 August at the St Jakobshalle venue.
If things are to go as per plan, Nehwal will face fourth seed Chen Yu Fei of China in her last-8 tie while Sindhu could be up against former world number one Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
The two have been placed in different halves of the draw and will not face each other unless they make it to the final.
Men's draw
Among the men, Srikanth Kidambi, seeded seventh, will begin his campaign against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen and could end up facing compatriot Sameer Verma in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy will have his task cut out from the get-go as he, in all probability, will face two-time Olympic and five-time world champion Lin Dan of China in the second round.
The Indian can take inspiration from the fact that he boasts a 2-2 head-to-head record against the Chinese great.
Sixteenth seed B Sai Praneeth is staring at a difficult route at the Worlds, as he could end up facing the likes of Jonatan Christie, Tommy Sugiarto and Jan O Jorgensen if he is to go deep into the competition.
Doubles competition
In the doubles event, the newly crowned Thailand Open champions Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy too have been handed a bye in the opening round while the pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attari could face the world number six pair of Han Cheng Kai and Zhou Hao Dong of China as early as the second round.
Meanwhile, in the women’s half, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will face Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun of Chinese Taipei in the opening round and line up against the world number seven pair of Du Yue and Li Yin Hui of China if they make it to the next round.
In the mixed doubles too, Ponnappa and Rankireddy stare at a really difficult task as they will be up against the world number two pair of Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping from China if they are to win their opening tie. The World Championships will begin on August 19 with the finals scheduled for August 25.