World Badminton: Favourable draw for Indians

The Indian shuttlers were handed a favourable draw in the World Badminton Championship with world number six Saina Nehwal getting a first-round bye at the event to be held in Hyderabad from August 10-16.

Sixth seed Saina would play her first match in the tournament against the winner of the match between Polish Olga Konon and Russian Anastasia Prokopenko in the second round.

The 20-year-old Hyderabadi is likely to meet 10th seed Petya Nedelcheva in the pre-quarterfinals and if she can get past her, Saina might face off against second seed Lin Wang of China, whom the Indian had beaten in the finals of the Indonesian Super Series in June.

"It is good draw for Saina and she should take one step at a time. Saina is ranked sixth at the moment so for the first time we have a seeded player, she doesn't need to play the top seeded players till the round of 16. So I think she should target the semi-finals," said her coach Pullela Gopichand after the unveiling of the draw.

In the men's singles too, Indians have a decent draw with world number 15th Chetan Anand opening his campaign against Ji Hoon Hong of Korea, while Arvind Bhat crossing swords with ninth seed Yu Hsing Hsieh of Chinese Taipei. Wild card entry P Kashyap faces Irish Ali Shahhosseini in the first round.

"The men have also got a good a good draw. Chetan and Arvind have a decent draw but P Kashyap has a tough one first up. Overall it's a good draw but there would be pressure," Gopichand said.