Sameer, Sourabh to compete in Thailand and Russia respectively

BANGKOK: National champion Sameer Verma will lead the Indian challenge at the $120,000 Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament which starts with the qualifiers at the Nimibutr Stadium here tomorrow.
Seventh seed Sameer will open his campaign against Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the main draw on Wednesday.
Young shuttlers Harsheel Dani, C Rohit Yadav and Shreyansh Jaiswal will also be competing in the men's singles event at the tournament.
Harsheel will face Malaysia's Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif, while Rohit will take on Indonesia's Panji Ahmad Maulana and Shreyansh Jaiswal will meet Japan's Kazumasa Sakai, seeded 10th.
In women's doubles, Prajakta Sawant will pair up with Malaysia's Zhi Qing Lee to take on local duo of Supisara Paewsampran and Kwanchanok Sudjaipraparat.
In the mixed doubles, Prajakta will combine with Malaysia's Yogendran Khrishnan to compete against Indonesia's Markis Kido and Apriani Rahayu in the opening match.
While Sameer will be busy at Bangkok, his elder brother Sourabh will be eyeing his third successive final when he competes at the USD 55,000 Russia Grand Prix in Vladivostok.
Sixth seed Sourabh, who finished second in Belgium and Poland, will take on Russia's Alexej Zolotuev, while young Siril Verma face another local shuttler Andrey Jdanov in his campiagn opener.
In women's singles, third seed Tanvi Lad, Arundhati Pantawane and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will vie for honours in Vladivostok.
While Tanvi and Ruthvika got a bye in the first round, Arundhati will square off against Russia's Anastasiia Sharapova.
In women's doubles, Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram will take on Russian combo of Victoria Slobodyanyuk and Elizaveta Tarasova, while second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Reddy N Sikki, who won the Brazil Open Grand Prix last month, will compete in the mixed doubles event.