Chance for India's second string to show mettle

NAGPUR: A bunch of young and talented Indian shuttlers will get the opportunity to test their skills in the $120,000 Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold meet which gets under way at Pasir Gudang on Tuesday.
The six-day tournament will also serve as the ideal warm-up for the Indians before they return home for the India Open Super Series, beginning in New Delhi on April 1.
All leading Indians, barring the top two in the men's and women's section, will be competing in Malaysia. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu have decided to skip the event. So have P Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, to focus on the India Open.
Despite the absence of the top players, Pullela Gopichand is optimistic about India's chances in Malaysia. "There are quite a few Indians participating in Malaysia in all the five events. I think we should do well. It will be a good exposure for all of them before the two big events in the Capital," Gopichand told TOI on Monday.
Three Indians feature in the women's singles main draw. Nagpur's Arundhati Pantawane is seeded seventh, while her Gopichand Academy training partners PC Thulasi and Tanvi Lad are the other two singles entries.
FIRST-ROUND PAIRINGS
Men's singles: 6-RMV Gurusaidutt vs Qualifier; 7-HS Prannoy vs Jiann Shiarng Chiang (MAS); 8-Sourabh Varma vs Yan Kit Chan (HKG); Anup Sridhar vs Dharma Alrie Guna (INA); Chetan Anand vs Qualifier; 12-B Sai Praneeth vs Mahbub Thomi Azizan (INA); Subhankar Dey vs Teck Zhi Soo (MAS); Aditya Prakash vs Andre Marteen (INA). Women's singles: 7-Arundhati Pantawane vs Ayumi Mine (JPN); PC Thulasi vs 5-Hera Desi (INA); Tanvi Lad vs Dinar Dyah Ayustine (INA)