PV Sindhu eyes historic gold medal at BWF World Championships

The 24-year-old star shuttler has always managed to peak at the BWF World Championships and one will want to see her reach similar heights in 2019.

She lost to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in an epic battle in the 2017 edition.

Olympic champion Carolina Marin beat Sindhu in the summit clash in 2018.

Sindhu will be eyeing the third successive finale spot.

Sindhu lost in the quarters of Indonesia Masters 2019, Asia Championships and Japan Open.

She was ousted in the round of 32 at the All England Open.

Sindhu lost in the semis of the Indian Open and Singapore Open respectively.

It was followed by a round of 16 loss at the Malaysian Open and Australian Open.

She was a runner-up at the Indonesian Open.

The fifth-seeded Sindhu received a bye in the first round and will open her campaign against either Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po or Bulgaria's Linda Zetchiri.

"I've been working on my defense, physical fitness and also on-court skills. I have trained hard and I hope I can do well. I have to perform well but there is no pressure," Sindhu told PTI.

Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Saina has won a silver and bronze medal in the World Championships.

She will take on the winner of the match between Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet and Netherland's Soraya De Visch Eijbergen in the second round after getting a bye.

If Saina manages to get past all the hurdles, a possible semi-final battle against Sindhu could be on the cards.

Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth will look to put up a good show after recovering from a knee problem which he suffered ahead of the Sudirman Cup.

The seventh-seeded Indian will open his campaign against Nhat Nguyen of Ireland.

Meanwhile, Sameer Verma will open his campaign against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

B Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy are also in the fray.