Saina, Srikanth given tough draws at All England Open

New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and former world no.1 Kidambi Srikanth were handed tough draws in the 2021 All England Championships.Reigning world champion PV Sindhu, meanwhile will face lower ranked opposition in the initial rounds before potentially coming up against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi and Spanish Olympic champion Carlona Marin. Saina has drawn the in-form Danish player Mia Blichfeldt, who beat Sindhu in the first round of the first Thailand Open in January. Srikanth starts his tournament against Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto. World championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, faces France’s Toma Junior Popov. Sindhu, who is seeded fifth, will face Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah in her first round match. Star men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty face Eloi Adam and Julien Maio of France while women’s doubles pair Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy face Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand. All England open draw for Indian players: Women’s SinglesPV Sindhu vs Soniia Cheah (Malaysia)Saina Nehwal vs Mia Blichfeldt (Denmark)Men’s SinglesKidambi Srikanth vs Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia)Parupalli Kashyap vs Kento Momota (Japan)Lakshya Sen vs Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Thailand)HS Prannoy vs Liew Daren (Malaysia)Sameer Verma vs Ygor Coelho (Brazil)B Sai Praneeth vs Toma Junior Popov (France)Men’s DoublesSatwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty vs Eloi Adam/Julien Maio (France)MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila vs Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi (Malaysia)Women’s DoublesAshwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy vs Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard (Thailand)Meghana Jakkampudi/Poorvisha Ram vs Alexandre Boje/Mette Poulsen (Denmark)Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam vs Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith (England)Mixed DoublesDhruv Kapila/Meghana Jakkampudi vs Praveen Jordan/Melati Oktavianti (Indonesia)Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Ashwini Ponnappa vs Yuki Kaneko/Misaki Matsutomo (Japan)Pranaav Jerry Chopra/ N Sikki Reddy vs Max Flynn/Jessica Pugh (England).–IANSrkm/sdr/