Sindhu, Praneeth and Tete players first practice in Tokyo

India’s reigning world badminton champion and Rio Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu and compatriot B Sai Praneeth arrived at the Tokyo Training Center early Monday for their first practice session ahead of the Olympic Games beginning July 23. After arriving in Tokyo on Sunday with India’s first batch of 88, Sindhu, who was training with coach Park Tae-sung at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad, started practicing. In the absence of reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, Sindhu is being considered as a gold medal contender for this year.

Sixth seed Sindhu will start her campaign in Group J with a match against Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova on July 25. If she passes the first round, she could face world number 12 Mia Blichfelt.

13th seeded Praneeth made his debut at the gymnasium in the sports village for a season before joining Sindhu on the training court. Praneeth is in Group D in the men’s singles draw against Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands and Misha Zilberman of Israel.

Meanwhile, the table tennis team along with Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan arrived for their first rehearsal session on Monday morning.

Medal winners at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sathiyan and Kamal will compete in the men’s singles event. Kamal will team up with Manika Batra in the mixed doubles event.