Competition: Syed Modi International Badminton Championships 2017
Date: 24 - 29 January
Venue: UP Badminton Academy, Lucknow
TV Channel: There is no live TV coverage in Singapore.
Live Streaming: BWF official Youtube channel, Hotstar
Live Updates will be available on tournament's official website.
Overview
Syed Modi International Badminton Championships, the season's second Grand Prix Gold tournament, kick starts on Tuesday (main draw matches starting on Wednesday) in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The tournament suffered an early blow with top Women's and Men's singles shuttlers pulling out at the last moment. Second-seeded former champion Saina Nehwal, who won the Malaysia Masters on Sunday, reportedly wrote to the organisers requesting them to withdraw her name from the tournament at home.
Men's singles top seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, who missed the season-opener in Malaysia, will be not be participating in the tournament. Notably, the Thailand shuttler played a key role by winning the decider for Chennai Smashers in their title match in the second season of Premier Badminton League earlier this month. Fourth seed Ajay Jayaram along with women's seventh seed Ruthvika Shivani will also join the list of withdrawals.
However, leading the campaign at home will be Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu, who will play her first tournament of 2017. Fresh from her China Open success, the world number six is favourites to take the title away from Sung Ji Hyun, who is not featuring in this year's tournament.
The 21-year-old, who reached the finals of Hong Kong Open and the semi-final of Superseries Finals in Dubai last year, will face a tricky test in the semi-final against Malaysia quarter-finalist Fitriani Fitriani in the semi-final, provided Sindhu makes it past the initial rounds.
Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth will be eager to retain the title in his season opener but he will face a tricky test from second seed Denmark player Hans-Kristian Vittinghus. Malaysia singles players Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Wei Feng Chong, both of whom failed to impress at home last week, will be itching to make an impact.
TV Schedule
India: Star Sports
Seeding information
| Men's singles | Women's singles |
| 1. Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) (withdrew) | 1. PV Sindhu (Ind) |
| 2. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Den) | 2. Saina Nehwal (Ind) (withdrew) |
| 3. Kidambi Srikanth (Ind) | 3. Beatriz Corrales (Esp) |
| 4. Ajay Jayaram (Ind) (withdrew) | 4. Fitriani Fitriani (Idn) |
| 5. Anders Antonsen (Den) | 5. Dinar Ayustine (Idn) |
| 6. HS Prannoy (Ind) | 6. Hannah Ramadani (Idn) |
| 7. Zulfadli Zulkiffli (Mas) | 7. Ruthvika Shivani (Ind) (withdrew) |
| 8. Sameer Verma (Ind) | 8. Ksenia Polikarpova (Rus) |
| 9. Sai Praneeth (Ind) | - |
| 10. Feng Chong Wei (Mas) | - |
For full tournament schedule, click here.
