The Indonesia Open 2022, a BWF Super 1000 tournament, begins on Tuesday with some big-ticket opening clashes lined up for India's top badminton players. The most prominent first round clash will be between Thomas Cup triumph teammates Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy while world No 7 PV Sindhu will face world No 9 China's He Bing Jiao is a potentially tough opener.
Almost all of India's top players will be in action this week at the Super 1000 event after a few missed last week's Indonesia Masters. Sindhu and Sen were India's best performers at the Super 500 event, where both bowed out in the quarter-finals. This week, the two are the only seeded players from India in singles in the marquee tournament.
Here's a look at all India's first-round matches and draws:
Men's singles
Sai Praneeth vs Hans-Kristian Vittinghus
Kidambi Srikanth vs Wang Tzu Wei
Lakshya Sen vs HS Prannoy
Sen vs Prannoy is a marquee clash from an Indian perspective. The two have met twice already this year - at the India Open and the German Open - with world No 9 Sen winning both matches. But a 2-0 head-to-head record is no guarantee as Prannoy, who skipped last week's tournament to focus on the bigger ones, will be invigorated after a break. Sen, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to Chou Tien Chen on Friday.
The winner could then potentially have another all-Indian clash in the quarterfinal, as Srikanth is in the same section. The former Indonesia Open champion will open his campaign against Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei, against whom he has a 4-1 record, most recently beating him in the group stage of the Thomas Cup. His potential second round will be against the winner of former world No 1 Kento Momota vs Rasmus Gemke.
Parupalli Kashyap vs Sameer Verma was to be the other all-Indian clash with but Kashyap has now withdrawn from the tournament as he continues his injury recover. Verma's new opponent is France's Thomas Rouxel against whom he has a 2-0 record but both matches were back in 2018. Verma lost in the first round last week and if he wins here, he will likely face sixth seed Lee Jii Zia if he gets a walkover.
Sai Praneeth will open his campaign against Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, who has a 3-1 advantage over him. He hadn't played the Indonesia Masters last week.
Women's singles
PV Sindhu vs He Bing Jiao
With Saina Nehwal withdrawing on Monday, there is going to be only one Indian in the women's singles draw. Nehwal, a former three-time champion at the event, was to open her campaign against Carolina Marin.
Sindhu is to face a big test in He Bing Jiao, against whom she has an 8-9 record but has beaten the last three times they met, including the Tokyo Olympics. Their latest meeting was a marathon battle at the Badminton Asia Championships which the Indian won 21-19 in the third.
If she wins, she will be up against another tricky test in Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan with a potential quarterfinal against third seed An Seyoung.
Men's doubles
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila vs Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi
Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy vs Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi
India will have only two entries in the men's doubles after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will play Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi in what will be their first meeting. Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on third seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, who they have a 0-2 record against. They had lost their opener last week.
Women's doubles
Haritha Harinarayanan and Ashna Roy vs Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong
Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy vs Srivedya Gurazada and Ishika Jaiswal
Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam vs Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu
India will have three all-Indian entries in women's doubles, with Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy - who lost in the opener last week - taking on an Indo-American combination of Srivedya Gurazada and Ishika Jaiswal. The pairs have not played each other before.
Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam will take on China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu while Haritha Harinarayanan and Ashna Roy will play South Korea's Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong. This is the first meeting of all pairs.
National selection trials winners Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were initially placed in the draw but have also pulled out from this event.
Mixed doubles
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto vs Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung
India will have only one entry in this event with Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto taking on Hong Kong's Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung in their first meeting. The Indians had not gone past the first round at last week's Indonesia Masters.