Shuttlers Saina, Sindhu in focus at All England Open

TIL Desk Sports/ Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth are all fresh and eager to compete at the All England Open Badminton Championships that begin here on Wednesday.

Eighth seed Saina, who overcame a career-ending knee injury, will meet World No.11 and defending champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the first round. The 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist was a runner-up in 2015 and there may not be a better tournament than All England to showcase that her troublesome days are well and truely over. The Japanese shuttler has faced her Indian opponent on six previous occasions, winning only once at the World Superseries Finals in 2015.

Saina, who now has to share the Indian badminton limelight with 2016 Rio Olympic silver medal winner Sindhu, will also out to prove that she still has enough firepower to carry Indian hopes. After the surgery, she has also won Malaysian Masters Grand Prix Gold that indicates that her comeback has been smooth and she will be hungry to continue that. But Saina is aware that the standard of play here will be much more demanding than the Malaysian event and she has to be ready.