All eyes on Saina in an action-packed day

Saina, seeded 12th at the Championships, will begin her campaign with a second-round match against Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland in what could prove to be the only easy tie for the 2015 silver medallist. She received a bye in the first round.

Saina Nehwal hasn’t had an easy year. Ever since picking a knee injury during the Rio Olympics last year, Saina has struggled with inconsistency.

Saina Nehwal hasn’t had an easy year. Ever since picking a knee injury during the Rio Olympics last year, Saina has struggled with inconsistency. From World No. 5 during the Olympics, she has slumped to No. 16 this year.

Largely away from the spotlight the last few months, the Indian star has been training diligently for the World Badminton Championships.

Saina, seeded 12th at the Championships, will begin her campaign with a second-round match against Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland in what could prove to be the only easy tie for the 2015 silver medallist. She received a bye in the first round.

The only previous encounter between the two happened at the London Olympics where the Swiss was one of the victims during her bronze medal-winning run. Will this match prove to be the start of Saina’s resurgence?

Saina could face second seed Sung Ji Hyun in the third round unless fellow Indian Tanvi Lad has other plans on Wednesday. Tanvi pulled off a remarkable win 17-21, 21-10, 21-19 win over England’s Chloe Birch to set up a second round clash with the Korean heavyweight in the second round.

Rituparna Das, who entered the second round after her opponent retired, will take on 16thseed Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the other women’s singles match of the day.

In the men’s section, Kidambi Srikanth will look to stamp his authority over the lesser ranked Frenchman Lucas Corvee for a place in the third round. The eighth seeded Indian, who has given Indians more than enough reasons to hope for a medal in the men’s singles, will is likely to have smooth sailing.

Sai Praneeth, 15th seed, will also be in action against Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. Sameer Verma, the other Indian in the fray, will take on England’s Rajiv Ouseph. A win of the 16th seed is likely to put Sameer in the path of Lin Dan.

Two Indian pairs will be seen in action in the doubles on Wednesday. Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy will take on Denmark’s Kamilla Juhl and Christinna Pedersen while surprise second-round entrants Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil will take on 14th seed Chinese pair of Bao Yixin and Yu Xiaohan.