Lakshya Sen, Tanvi Sharma Lead India’s Challenge At US Open Super 300
Seasoned campaigner Lakshya Sen and rising star Tanvi Sharma will spearhead India's campaign at the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament , which gets underway on Tuesday in Fullerton.
India will field a strong contingent across the singles events, with former world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth and a seven-member women's singles squad also aiming for deep runs in the tournament.
World No. 14 and Paris Olympics semifinalist Lakshya Sen , seeded second, will begin his campaign against Belgium's Julien Carraggi. The Indian shuttler will be keen to return to form after suffering a first-round exit at the Indonesia Open earlier this month.
Top seed and world No. 6 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei is placed in the opposite half of the men's singles draw. Sen holds a narrow 5-4 head-to-head advantage over Chou and has won their last two meetings, raising the prospect of a high-profile clash if both players progress through the tournament.
Srikanth, seeded fifth, opens his campaign against Chinese Taipei's Liao Jhuo-Fu. India also has Saneeth Dayanand in the main draw, with the unseeded player facing Japan's fourth-seeded Yudai Okimoto in the opening round. S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian will take on a qualifier in his first match.
In women's singles, India has a significant presence with seven players in the main draw , led by fifth seed Tanvi Sharma and sixth seed Devika Sihag. The 17-year-old Tanvi has enjoyed an impressive season, reaching the semifinals of the Orleans Masters and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open Super 500. She will begin her campaign against Germany's Yvonne Li.
Devika, ranked 34th in the world, has already captured the Thailand Masters Super 300 and Azerbaijan International titles this year and will face Peru's Ines Lucia Castillo Salazar in the opening round.
World No. 51 Anmol Kharb , who reached the quarterfinals of last week's Macau Open, will take on Bulgaria's Kaloyana Nalbantova. Rakshitha Sree S, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Tanya Hemanth and Aakarshi Kashyap complete India's women's singles line-up.
In women's doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will be India's lone representatives and will open against Spain's Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez.
India's challenge in mixed doubles will be led by seventh seeds Dhruv Rawat and Maneesha K , who face Indonesia's Wirawan Ihsan Adam and Serena Kani in the first round. However, India will have no representation in the men's doubles main draw .