Sindhu, Srikanth to restart quest for first title of season

Yeosu: Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look for consistency in their quest for a maiden title of the season when they begin their campaign at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament here on Tuesday.

A title has eluded Sindhu this year with more than half the season already over. She has not been able to string together a series of wins in a week after returning from a five-month long injury lay-off following a stress fracture on her ankle.

The two-time Olympic medallist had reached the final of Madrid Spain Masters, her best finish this season. She showed sparks when she reached the semifinals of Canada

Open but made a quarterfinal exit in the next event after going down to China's Gao Fang Jie in the US Open.

The world No. 12 Indian will have to quickly recover from the loss when she opens her campaign here against Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po. A favourable result is likely to pit her against China's Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei.

With new coach Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, a former All England

champion, also travelling with her this week, Sindhu will hope she finds her footing quickly in the Olympic qualification period which ends in April next year.

Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, too have blown hot and cold, reaching quarterfinals at Spain Masters, Malaysia Masters and

Indonesia Open.