Bangkok: Saina Nehwal and B. Sai Praneeth will start favourites at the $120,000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold on Tuesday.
After missing the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship to attend to her ailing father, Saina will be itching to add another GPG title to her kitty after claiming the Malaysia Masters early in the year.
Seeded second, Saina opens her campaign against unheralded Martina Repiska of Slovakia and the world no. 10 should reach the quarters without breaking a sweat.
A few good players — Canada’s Michelle Li and fourth seeded local player Busanan Ongba-mrungphan — are in the second half of the draw.
If Saina can reach the finals then former world champion and top seed Ratchanok Intanon could be standing between her and the title.
Newly-crowned Singa-pore Open champion, Praneeth, on the other hand, will look to consolidate his position in world badminton with another good performance. It was a moment of glory for Praneeth when he defeated Kidambi Srikanth at the Singapore Open last month and he will look to continue the winning momentum when he takes on Indonesia’s Nathaniel Ernestan Sulistyo.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt will also be returning to action after a long injury layoff which saw him battle a nagging ankle problem before going under the knife for the same last year.
Gurusaidutt will face Indonesia’s Panji Ahmad Maulana in the opening round, while his training partner and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap will square off against Milan Dratva of Slovekia.
In the women’s singles, national champion Rituparna Das, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, Reshma Karthik, Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka, Saili Rane and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli will also participate in the tournament.
