In the absence of the top-three ranked Chinese players — Wang Yihan, Li Xuerui and Wang Xin — World No 4 Saina Nehwal has been top-seeded for the Yonex French Open Badminton Superseries tournament starting at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris on October 23, writes the DNA.
This tournament is the second of back-to-back tournaments that Saina will be taking part on her to return to competition since winning the women’s singles Olympic bronze in London in August first week. Before the Paris event, Saiana will be in action in the Denmark Open in Odense, which begins on October 16.
She will take on Han Li of China in the opening round on October 24 after the first day will witness qualification rounds. The two have met only once previously, at the SCG Thailand Open in June this year, with the Indian emerging on top against the World No 22 Chinese.
Meanwhile, The Times of India writes that Olympic medalists Saina Nehwal and MC Mary Kom Saina handed over a pair of boxing gloves and a badminton racket which will be auctioned online to raise funds in Bangalore in a function where they received keys to apartments gifted by Commune One, an initiative by Commune India and Target Games, writes The Times of India.
"We requested Saina and Mary to help and they readily agreed. The online auction will now happen in two months time and the proceedings will go to Save A Mother, an NGO which educates women about pregnancy, nutrition, immunization, delivery and care of the child," Sanjay Raj, CEO of Commune India was quoted as saying.