Srikanth keen to make amends at Korea Open

HYDERABAD: Kidambi Srikanth will be keen to win his first title of the season when he leads the Indian challenge at the Korea Open Super Series, which kicks off in Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, on Tuesday.
The top ranked Indian, who is seeded eighth here, is one of the favourites to win the title as the top two seeds pulled out of the Super Series. Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen, who is seeded third as per the draw, will be the top seed now.Srikanth had defeated Jorgensen at the Rio Olympics to make it to the quarterfinals.
The world No. 14 Indian, who surprisingly lost to Marc Zweibler of Germany in the Japan Open quarterfinals last week, will be keen to make amends in Korea. The 23-year-old, will begin his campaign against Wong Ki Wing Vincent of Hong Kong in the first round. Though Srikanth has a 1-1 record against Vincent, the Indian is expected to easily get past the world No. 20. A win here will pit Srikanth against either Emil Holst of Denmark or Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the second. Srikanth has said that the draw is easy, but the Guntur-lad may have to sweat it out in the quarterfinals stage, where he is expected to face fourth seed Tian Houwei.
The Chinese shuttler is tipped to be one of the future stars in men's singles.
Ajay Jayaram, Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy are the other Indians in the men's singles main draw while Kashyap, who gave Srikanth a tough time last week in Tokyo, will have to the make the grade through qualifiers. Jayaram, who was injured last week will face local shuttler Jeon Hyeok Jin in the first round.
Sai Praneeth will face a tough challenge from world No. 26 Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei on Wednesday. The Indian, ranked No. 35, has a 0-1win loss record against Hao.