Odense (Denmark), Oct 12: Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu faces a daunting opening-round challenge against world No.1 and defending champion An Se-young as she sets out to lead the Indian challenge through a tricky draw at the USD 950,000 Denmark Open Super 750 tournament beginning here on Tuesday.
In the men’s event, Lakshya Sen too has a tough one at hand as he takes on third seed Chou Tien Chen.
Sindhu, a former world champion, arrives in Denmark with mixed recent results, having won the Japan Open Super 750 title in July before reaching the quarterfinals of last week’s Arctic Open, where she went down fighting against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in three games.
What the 31-year-old would be concerned about is the fact that she has lost all her 10 previous clashes against An.
In men’s singles, Lakshya will be keen to rediscover his best form after an underwhelming Asian Games individual campaign. His fortunes have oscillated wildly in the past two years.
Lakshya had finished runner-up at the All England Championships for the second time earlier this year, four years after his first final appearance in 2022.
He is also the only Indian men’s singles player to have reached an Olympic semi-final in 2024.
However, Lakshya has recently been hampered by a back injury. He defeated Japan’s Kodai Naraoka during the quarterfinals of men’s team event at the Asian Games but lost in the round of 32 in the individual competition. (PTI)