Australian Open badminton: Prannoy to spearhead Indian challenge

Prannoy, seeded fifth in Sydney, 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.

HS Prannoy will look to regain his lost form when he spearheads India's challenge at the Australian Open badminton tournament starting in Sydney on June 11.

Prannoy, seeded fifth in Sydney, 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.

Other Indians to feature in the men's singles are Mithun Manjunath, who will take on Indonesia's Alwi Farhan, Kiran Geoge who is up against Canada's Xiaodong Sheng, S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian who is pitted against top seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.

In women's singles, eighth seed Aakarshi Kashyap will lead the Indian charge. She will play Ukraine's Polina Buhrova in the opening round.