World Badminton Championships 2018: PV Sindhu Could Face Nozomi Okuhara; Tough Draw For Saina Nehwal

India's badminton stars PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal were handed a bye in the first round of the 24th BWF World Championships starting July 30 in Nanjing, China but they might face tough opponents in the latter stages of the tournament. After the first round bye, the Rio Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will kick off her campaign against World No. 37 Fitriani Fitriani or World No. 44 Linda Zetchiri. However, things become much harder for Sindhu after the first match.

The first real test for Sindhu will be in the third round of the tournament where she is expected to face World No. 9 Sung Ji Hyun.

If she manages to beat Sung Ji Hyun, Sindhu's next opponent could be defending champion Nozomi Okuhara in the quarter-final of the tournament. Sindhu lost to Okuhara in the 2017 World Badminton Championships.

Okuhara also defeated Sindhu in straight sets in Sunday's Thailand Open final.

On the other hand, Saina will have an easy second round, taking on the winner of the match between Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet or Turkey's Aliye Demirbag.

If she manages to win her Round 2 match, Saina in all likelihood face fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon in the pre-quarters.

A win against Intanon in the third round could pit Saina against Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin.