New Delhi: PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will be among the favourites in the men's and women's singles categories at the $350,000 India Open World Tour Super 500 starting here on Wednesday.
With the top-ranked shuttlers in the two categories, Denmark's Viktor Axelsen and Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-Ying, skipping the tournament, expectations will be higher from the Indians since they will play in front of the home crowd at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
World No. 12 Saina is coming into the tournament after a runner-up finish in Indonesia Masters on Sunday. In Jakarta last week, she defeated higher-ranked opponents like No. 3 Sindhu, No. 4 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand and No. 8 Chinese Chen Yufei before going down to Tai.
"My aim is stay fit, to train hard and give my best," Saina said at the pre-tournament press conference. She was surprised to be reported among the contenders.
"I am not resting on one result," the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist and two-time World Championship medallist added. The Hyderabadi will open her campaign against Denmark' Sofie Dahl and fifth seed Beiwen Zhang will be her likely opponent in the quarter-finals. Sindhu will meet Natalia Koch Rohde in the first round on Wednesday.
"I know there will be a lot of expectations from me after last year's success. But this is a fresh challenge.
"Each round will be equally tough. My approach will be to approach each match as it comes," Sindhu said.