Verma brothers lead Indian challenge at Bitburger Open

SAARBRUCKEN (Germany): Young shuttlers, including Sourabh Verma and Sameer Verma, will spearhead the Indian challenge at the USD 120,000 Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold which will get underway here from Tuesday.
Sourabh, who clinched the Chinese Taipei title early this month, and his younger brother Sameer, who became the senior National champion this year, will open their campaign against qualifiers on Tuesday.
Among others in men's singles, Siril Verma will clash with sixth seed Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia, Anand Pawar will face third seed Marc Zwiebler of Germany and Subhankar Dey will take on Indonesia's Jonatan Christie, seeded fifth.
In women's singles, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, who won her maiden Grand Prix title at Russian Open early this month, will square off against Netherland's Soraya De Visch Eijbergen, while Tanvi Lad will meet Neatherland's Gayle Mahulette in another match.
In men's doubles, Akshay Dewalkar and Kona Tarun will face off against eighth seeded German pair of Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler in their campaign opener, while Prajakta Sawant and her Malaysian partner Zhi Qing Lee will face Denmark combo of Julie Finne-Ipsen and Rikke Søby Hansen in women's doubles.
Prajakta will again pair up with Malaysia's Yogendran Khrishnan in mixed doubles to take on a combo who will come through the qualifying event.