Stage set for Malaysia Open

After two weeks of the Premier Badminton League, India’s shuttlers will now look to begin the gruelling new season on a positive note when at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold here from Wednesday.

Two-time world championship silver-medallist, P.V. Sindhu and 2014 China Open winner K. Srikanth, will be title contenders in the women’s and men’s singles events.

Injuries and poor form marred the last season for Sindhu but she showed signs of recovery, clinching the Macau Open for the third time in November and also stayed unbeaten in the PBL.

The world no. 12 will take on Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet in the opening match of the new season at the Spice Stadium here.

World no. 9 Srikanth, however, had a gradual downward slide last year as he started with a win at the Swiss Open and the India Super Series but lost form in the second half and made too many early exits.

His PBL campaign was also inconsistent but the Indian will look to hit the right notes when he starts the new season against Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia in his opening match in Malaysia.

Ajay Jayaram recovered a lot of ground last year as he bounced back from a long injury lay-off to win the Dutch Open and also the silver at the Korea Super Series.

The Mumbai shuttler, who is currently world no. 21, will look to put his best foot forward when he clashes with Japan’s Takuma Ueda, hoping to make an early impression in his bid to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Among other men’s singles player, Sameer Verma and B. Sai Praneeth will also look to bring their best to the table when they take on Japan’s Sho Sasaki and a qualifier respectively on Wednesday.