Focus to end 18-year drought, to get tough draws in All England Championship

Birmingham: Indian Badminton Players, including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, have been handed tough draws at the All England Championships, where the country has not won a title in the last 18 years. 

Olympic and World Championship silver medallist Sindhu, who had reached the semifinals here last year, will open her campaign against South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, while Indonesia Masters champion Saina takes on Scotland's Kristy Gilmour in the first round of World Tour Super 1000 tournament, which begins here on March 6. 

Both Sindhu and Saina are currently playing at the Senior National Championships and will head straight to Birmingham from here for the prestigious tournament. Sindhu will have to be cautious against Hyun, who had defeated her at the Hong Kong Open last year. If she gets past Hyun, the Indian is likely to face third seed Chen Yufei in the quarter-final.

Former world no. 1 Saina, who had reached the All England final in 2015, made a good start to the new season with a semifinal finish at the Malaysia Masters and a title win at Indonesia.

But the London Olympics bronze medallist is expected to face world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals. Saina had lost her last 11 encounters against Tai, who had an injury-marred end to the last season. 

The Indian duo will also fancy their chances after three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain has been ruled out due to the knee injury suffered during the Indonesia Masters final.

In men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth, who missed the Senior Nationals due to a minor issue with his ankle, will take on Frenchman Brice Leverdez in the opening round. He is likely to meet world no. 1 Kento Momota in the quarter-finals. The seventh-seeded Indian had lost to Momota five times last season.

Sameer Verma, who reached the semifinals at World Tour Finals, will start his campaign against former world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. 

Among others, B Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy will face each other in the opening round with the winner likely to take on Indonesia's Anthony Ginting.