New Delhi: Ace Indian shuttler Sania Nehwal has been handed a relatively easy draw at the women’s singles badminton event at the upcoming London games.
Nehwal will start her campaign against Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland on July 28.The draw was held on Monday at the Main Press Centre of the Olympic Park in London clubbed Saina in Group E along with Sabrina and Lianne Tan of Belgium.
The 22 year old Indian is likely to play 14th seed Yao Jie of The Netherlands (Group F) in the pre-quarterfinals.
The world No who won two successive titles at Thailand Grand Prix Gold and Indonesia Super Series last month, is expected to face some tough competition in the quarterfinals as she is likely to face off agaisnt either two-time All England Champion Tine Baun (Group G), seeded fifth, or 12th seed Japanese Sayaka Sato (Group H).
Meanwhile in the men’s singles, world No 21 P Kashyap has been grouped with 10th seed Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh and Tan Yuhan of Belgium in Group D. In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have been clubbed with fourth seeded Japanese pair of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa, Cheng Wen Hsing and Chien Yu Chin of Chinese Taipei and Singapore’s Shinta Sari Mulia and Yao Lei in Group B.
In mixed doubles, Jwala and V Diju were drawn in a very tough gruop with all their three opponents having won either a World Championship or an Olympic gold in the past. The Indian pair ranked 13th in the world, have been placed in Group C along with 2009 World Champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark, Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad of Indonesia and World No 9 Lee Yong Dae and Ha Jung Eun of Korea.
By Indian Sports News Network
