Kidambi Srikanth, Tanvi Sharma to Lead India at German Open Super 300

Experienced badminton player Kidambi Srikanth and World Junior Championship silver medalist Tanvi Sharma will spearhead India’s challenge at the German Open Super 300 tournament, which begins on Tuesday. The former world number one had a good run during the last season, winning a runner-up finish at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 and Syed Modi International Super 300, although he could not win a tournament.

Srikanth had dropped to the 82nd spot in the rankings, but the 31-year-old has managed to regain his position to the 32nd spot. Srikanth will start his campaign against a qualifier. 16-year-old Tanvi, ranked 40th in the world rankings for the women’s singles, will open against Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia. Tanvi had forced world number two Wang Ziyi and world number 12 Tomoka Miyazaki to three games at the India Open and Indonesia Masters earlier this season. She defeated world number 17 Busanan Ongbamrungphan at the Asian Badminton Team Championships.

World number 51 Malvika Bansod will open her campaign against Denmark’s Line Hojmark Jarsfeldt, while world number 45 Isharani Barua will face Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. Tasnim Mir will face a tough challenge from top-seeded Wang Ziyi of China in the first round. In the men’s singles draw, Kiran George will face Christo Popov of France, while Tharun Mannepalli will face Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei. In the qualification, Aakarshi Kashyap will face Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei. In the women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam will open their campaign against the Chinese Taipei pair of Su Yin Hui and Lin Zhih Yun.