Prannoy to spearhead Indian challenge at Australian Open

HS Prannoy

HS Prannoy will look to regain his lost form when he spearheads India's challenge at the Australian Open badminton tournament starting here on Tuesday. Prannoy, seeded fifth here, didn't have best of results in the last two tournaments. He was stunned by compatriot Meiraba Luwang Maisnam in the men's singles opening round of Thailand Open last month.

If that was not enough, world No. 10 Prannoy lost to world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto 13-21, 21-14, 15-21 in a 45-minute Round of 16 match in Singapore Open. And the Indian will be desperate to turn things around in the BWF Super 500 event here as he opens his campaign against Ygor Coelho of Brazil.

Sameer Verma will play Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia in the opening round, while Ravi faces a tough opponent in eight seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. In women's singles, eighth seed Aakarshi Kashyap will lead the Indian charge. She will play Ukraine's Polina Buhrova in the opening round.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever