Indian shuttlers confident of good show in World C'ship

Hyderabad:

Saina Nehwal will not set any target, Arvind Bhat wants to take one match at a time while Chetan Anand is brimming with confidence as the Indians look to make a mark in the World Badminton Championships starting at Gachibowli Stadium here on Monday.

Back in the court after recovering from a mild bout of chicken pox, sixth seed Saina will carry India's hopes and the 20-year-old has been handed a good draw, getting a bye in the first round.

"It is a good draw but not at all an easy one because there are quite a few quality players in there and obviously everyone has got a month break to practice and train themselves. So all of them would be fresh and raring to go," Saina said.

"I would not like to set any target and rather look at one game at a time and give my best that I usually do and see what happens.

"Preparation has been going on well. I am quite prepared and fit. I just want to go there and give my 100 per cent," she added.

Saina will play her first match in the tournament against the winner of the match between Polish Olga Konon and Russian Anastasia Prokopenko, in the second round. In men's singles, Chetan will spearhead India's challenge and the 15th seed will open his campaign against Ji Hoon Hong of Korea.

"It is an okay draw for me. I am playing a Korean in the first round. I have never played him before but I have seen him play. So it would be a good match," said Chetan, also ranked 15th in the world.

"I would like to concentrate on my game and play freely and I know if I can do that I can pull it off," he added. If the 29-year-old Indian gets past Ji, Chetan is likely to meet sixth-seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in the second round.

"Last year I defeated Kuncoro in the Denmark Open Super Series, so I am not scared of him. I just want to enjoy and play my natural game. I am not too worried about results and want to give my 100 per cent," he said.

Another prominent Indian in fray in men's singles is world number 24 Bhat, who has been handed a difficult draw but the current national champion said it wasn't "too bad."

"The draw isn't too bad even though I play ninth-seed Yu Hsing Hsieh of Taiwan in the first round. I know I have not won against him in the last two encounters but I still feel he is beatable. I would like to take it one match at a time," said Bhat.

Wild card entrant Indians P Kashyap and Sayali Gokhale lock horns with Ireland's Ali Shahhosseini and Jie Yao of the Netherlands in their openers respectively.

Also there is world number 32 Aditi Mutatkar facing 11th seed Juliane Schenk of Germany in women's singles first round.