Lucknow: Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will look to launch the new season with a bang when she starts her title defence at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship that gets underway with the qualifiers on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old, who won the title in 2009 and 2010 when it was a Grand Prix event before claiming the crown last year again, will face tough competition from runners-up and third seed P V Sindhu and reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in women's singles.
"I am looking forward to the event. Last year turned out to be a good season for me and I think Syed Modi is the right tournament to start the year," Saina, who will open her campaign against Malaysia's Yin Fun Lim on Wednesday in the main draw, told PTI.
"I am the defending champion here. So I hope I can once again win the title and start the season on a positive note.
However, it won't be easy because we have a few very good players such as Carolina and Sindhu. So hope for the best," added Saina, who has fifth seed Beatriz Corrales and compatriot P C Tulashi in her half, among others.
Sindhu, who won multiple bronze medals in team events last year, will open against a qualifier but her real challenge will start in the third round, where she is likely to face Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, seeded sixth.
Sindhu had last week reached the semifinals of the Malaysian Grand Prix Gold.
The USD 120,000 event, being organised by Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association (UPBA) at BBD UP Badminton Academy, Gomti Nagar will also see tough competition between Indian shuttlers in the men's singles event.
While last year's runners-up K Srikanth will look to go the distance this time, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap could prove to be his biggest competitor.
Srikanth, who entered the big league after stunning two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China to win the China Super Series Premier last year, will also face resistance from compatriots Ajay Jayaram, who won the Dutch Grand Prix last year, Indonesian Masters GPG champion H S Prannoy, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt.
Besides the Indian shuttlers, the world No. 4 Indian will also have to fight it out with 11th ranked Viktor Alexsan of Denmark and Malaysia's Wei Feng Chong.
Organised in memory of eight-time national champion Syed Modi, the event was initially an All India tournament, which was upgraded to an International Challenge event in 2004, before being promoted to a Grand Prix Gold event in 2009.
Srikanth will open against Shreyansh Jaiswal, the guy who had sent packing defending champion Sourabh Verma in the first round of Senior Nationals in Srinagar in 2012. The lad from Guntur, Andra Pradesh is likely to face 14th seed Jayaram in the pre-quarterfinals.
Kashyap will take on Subhankar Dey in his tournament opener and is likely to meet 11th seed Israel's Misha Zilberman in the later round.
Among other seeded Indians, Jayaram will meet K Ajay Kumar, Prannoy will square off with compatriot Oscar Bansal, Guru will lock horns with Pratul Joshi, Sourabh will fight it out against Nepal's Bikash Shrestha, B Sai Praneeth will face Prem Singh Chouhan and Anand Pawar and German GPG champion Arvind Bhat will face a qualifier each.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded second, has got a bye in the opening round.
In men's doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, seeded fifth, will take on Malaysia's V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan, while sixth seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar will meet Nepal's Bikash Shrestha and Ratnajit Tamang.
In mixed doubles, Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan will take on comaptriots Gaurav Malhan and Meenu Singh.
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