India's star player PV Sindhu's opponent for the group stage of the Paris Olympics are confirmed. A total of 39 players are taking part in Women's Singles in Badminton and they have been divided into 13 groups of three players each with one seeded player in each group. Sindhu is 10th seeded for the Games and has been slotted in Group M.
A random draw took place today for the Olympics and accordingly, Sindhu will face Kristin Kuuba of Estonia and Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of Maldives in the group stage. While Kuuba is ranked 75, Fathimath of Maldives is 111th ranked player in Badminton and one would expect Sindhu to storm into the next round in the Olympics.
Among other players to represent India in Badminton, the Women's duo of Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto have been slotted in Group C alongside fourth seeded Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida of Japan,
KIM So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong of South Korea and Setyana Mapasa/Angela Yu of Australia. It will be a tough test for the Ponappa-Crasto duo in the group stage itself and it will be interesting to ses if they will be able to make it to the knockouts.
In Men's Singles, 13th seeded HS Prannoy is part of Group K and will face the challenge from Le Duc Phat of Vietnam and Fabian Roth of Germany during the Games. Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, is unseeded and will face the third seeded Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in Group L. Other players in his group are Kevin Cordon of Guatemalan and Julien Carraggi of Belgium.
Notably, the draw for Men's Doubles event has been postponed and the new date is not yet confirmed. India's superstar pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has been seeded third for the Olympics and it remains to be seen if they will be able to win the medal for the country.
