All England Championships 2017: Olympic stars Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu to lead Indian challenge

Olympic medallists and star shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will look to become the third Indian to win the highly prestigious All England trophy as they lead the home challenge at the Super Series Premier tournament, beginning with the qualifiers at Birmingham on Teusday.     

Ever since Pullela Gopichand emulated Prakash Padukone's 1980 feat in 2001, no Indian has ever laid claim to the crown with Saina being the country's only shuttler to come close to achieving that rare feat when she reached the finals at 2015 before losing to Olympic champion Carolina Marin.     

Back to full fitness after putting in the hard yards following a complete recovery from the knee injury, which had broken her Rio Olympics dream, Saina is now aiming to regain her position in world badminton and will be eager to dish out a powerpacked performance at the Barclaycard Arena.     

On the other hand, Sindhu, who became the toast of the nation after her historic silver medal at the Rio Olympics,will be keen to erase the memory of a first round exit in thelast edition with another determined effort which helped herto claim her maiden title at China Open in 2017.     

Both Saina and Sindhu have made a resounding start to the new season with titles at Malaysia Masters and Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold tournaments in January and they would now look to make a positive start to the Super Series circuit, which also includes events at India, Malaysia and Singapore.     

Eighth seeded Saina, who fought back from acareer-threatening knee injury in August to not only recoverbut start competitive badminton in November, will facedefending champion Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who is nursing ashoulder injury. She last played in November where shewithdrew half-way through her first round encounter.     

"I was runners-up in 2015 All England Championship but facing Carolina (Marin) was a very big task. She overpowered me and won the title. I am fine and well-trained now so I amready to face my opponents," World No. 10 Saina said.     

In the form of her life, sixth seed Sindhu will face Denmark's Mette Poulsen in the opening round and is likely to meet world No. 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei at the quarterfinals if she doesn't suffer any hiccups.     

"I consider the All England like any normal Super Series tournament. As a player, I would be playing the same players who I play in other Super Series matches tournaments, so it is the same for me, and I would look to do well," Sindhu said.     

In men's singles, Rio Olympics quarter finalist K Srikanth, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from anankle injury, will look to put his best foot forward after apre-quarterfinal finish at the German Open last week.     

Also competing at the world's oldest badminton tournament will be Swiss Open champion H S Prannoy and two-time Dutch Open winner Ajay Jayaram in men's singles event.     

Prannoy will face China's Qiao Bin and Jayaram meets China's Huang Yuxiang, while Srikanth will square off against a qualifier in the opening round.     

World No. 13 pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face Korean combination of Yoo Yeon Seong and KimHa Na, while Rio Olympians Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on a qualifying pair.     

Women's doubles pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram will meet Chinese Taipei combo of Hsu Ya Ching and Wu TiJung.