Prannoy, Kashyap give US Open a miss, Jayaram to lead Indian challenge

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram will lead the Indian challenge at the US Open in the absence of defending champion HS Prannoy and last year's finalist Parupalli Kashyap in the World Tour Super 300 tournament starting here tomorrow.

World No 8 Prannoy has decided to skip the event to be in best shape for the upcoming hectic schedule including the USD 700,000 Malaysia Open, USD 1,250,000 Indonesia Open, World Championship and Asian Games.

"I am not playing US Open. I haven't decided what events I will play," he said.

Kashyap, on the other hand, is recovering from a stress fracture on his shin that he suffered after the Austria Open in February.

"Just after Orleans GP it got aggravated and I had to stop playing. I was back on court a few weeks back. I hope to play in Thailand," Kashyap told PTI.

Jayaram, who is on a comeback trail since recovering from a hamstring injury that took nearly eight months to heal, will eye a good outing when he begins his campaign against a qualifier here.

In the women's singles competition, Anura Prabhudesai will fight it out with Canada's Rachel Honderich and Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka meets second seeded Japanese Sayaka Sato.

In men's doubles category, second seeded Indian pair of Attri Manu and B Sumeeth Reddy will be in action.

In the qualifiers here, K Ajay Kumar will face Canada's Timothy Chiu in men's singles. He will pair up with his men's doubles partner Hari Kiran Chereddi to take on the local combine of Clay Tobaw Gilmour and Grimaldy Navirio Gunawan.