March 31, 2014 10:57 PM

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India Open Super Series badminton begins tomorrow

The 250,000 US Dollar India Open Super Series badminton tournament will get underway with the qualifiers at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Tuesday.Ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and K Srikanth will be country's best bets in the competition which has a world class field. In its fourth edition, the India Open will be a big opportunity for the country's shuttlers to show their mettle in front of the home crowd against some of the biggest names in the game.London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina is the only Indian to be seeded. The eighth seed will once again be the star attraction when she starts her campaign against Austrian Simone Prutsch on Wednesday.World No.1 and Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China is the top seed. Defending and World Champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand has pulled out because of injury.Sindhu has been handed a tough draw as she faces two-time All England Champion Shixian Wang of China in her campaign opener on Wednesday. The World No. 9 Sindhu had beaten Shixian at the Swiss Open recently and has an impressive 3-0 head-to-head advantage against the former World No.1 Wang and she remains confident of her chances.Indian challenge in men's singles will rest on the shoulders of Thailand Grand Prix Gold winner, K Srikanth, while Parupalli Kashyap, Sourabh Varma, RMV Gurusaidutt, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Anand Pawar and HS Prannoy are the other players in the fray.Defending champion and world number one Lee Chong Wei is the top seed and will be the cynosure of all eyes, while Japan's Kenechi Tago has pulled out from the men's singles. The qualifiers will be held on Tuesday with a number of Indians vying for a place in the main draw.

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