BWF Hylo Open 300 begins today; Malvika Bansod-Ayush Shetty to lead charge
The Hylo Open, a Super 300 BWF World Tour tournament, offers Indian youth an opportunity to showcase their skills in a less competitive environment as it kicks off on Tuesday in Saarbrucken, Germany.
Due to the absence of the top five players in the world, Chou Tien Chen, ranked 9th globally, will be the top seed in the men’s singles division at the tournament.
From the Indian perspective, Ayush Shetty highly given his recent second-place finish at the Dutch Open, a notable event in European Badminton.
Ayush put on an impressive display in every match of the tournament, but ultimately fell to Denmark’s Mads Christophersen in the final by a score of 10-21, 9-21.
The 19-year-old will start his competition against Ade Resky Dwicahyo from Azerbaijan. Winning the opening round will pit Ayush against top seed Tien Chen, presenting a challenging match ahead. However, Ayush will feel inspired to demonstrate his skills against the experienced Chinese Taipei badminton player.
Also read: Hylo Open Badminton: Sathish Kumar faces compatriot Chirag Sen in first round
Meanwhile, Sankar Subramanian, a previous silver medallist in the World Junior Championships, will compete against a determined player from France, Arnaud Merkle, in the opening round.
Sankar recently reached the semifinals at the Dutch Open, with a decisive victory over Julien Carragi in the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated by Christophersen in the semifinals after a thrilling three-game match. In the Hylo Open, the player from Chennai hopes to advance further in the BWF World Tour competition.
In women’s singles, sixth seed Malvika Bansod will be India’s biggest title hope in the category, where the top seed is Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.
As Malvika is expected to get over Bulgaria’s Hristomira Popovska quite easily in the first round, she might face a tricky challenge in the second round, where Germany’s Yvonne Li is likely to face the Indian shuttler.
