Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Sydney: Defending champion Saina Nehwal has been seeded second in the women’s singles competition of the USD 750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament that will get underway here on Tuesday.
Olympic bronze medallist, Saina had outclassed Spaniard Carolina Marin to clinch her first Super Series crown in 20 months, after coming out on top in the Denmark Open in October 2012.
The World No. 2 Indian will take on a qualifier in her campaign opener.
The other Indian in women’s singles, World No. 11 P V Sindhu is unseeded and will face former World Champion Chinese Yihan Wang, seeded eighth, in her opening match.
Three Indians will compete in the men’s singles competition with World No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth, who has been seeded fourth, taking on Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in his opening match.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will face Chinese sixth seed Wang Zhengming in a tough match, while Indonesia Masters winner, H S Prannoy will open against China’s Tian Houwei.
India’s men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar will meet Cai Yun and Kang Jun, while 2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will face Dutch pair Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling in women’s doubles competition.
