After a week of high-octane Sudirman Cup mixed team matches in Gold Coast, badminton action shifts to Thailand, which will host the season's seventh Grand Prix Gold tournament from 30 May.
Despite the absence of quite a few top-ranked stars, a good line-up of formidable singles and doubles players have traveled to Bangkok. Defending Men's singles champion Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk starts the tournament as the top seed while Singapore Superseries winner Sai Praneeth is among the favourites to clinch the title.
In the Women's singles field, world number nine Ratchanok Intanon starts as the top seed in the absence of defending champion Aya Ohori and the local shuttler, who will have a lot of support this week, will look to emulate her 2013 title-winning feat. Also, former world number one Saina Nehwal, after having missed Sudirman Cup action, is bidding to win her second title in Bangkok.
Tanongsak will face Slovakia's Matej Hlinican in the opening round on Tuesday and he has an easy passage to the quarter-final, in which he is expected to face 10th seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro. A semi-final meeting against title favourite Praneeth, who heads the second quarter of the draw, awaits the Thai shuttler, who had a disappointing run at Sudirman Cup.
The third-seeded Indian shuttler, who will face local shuttler Nathaniel Sulistyo on Tuesday, is expected to meet fit-again Malaysian shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnain [9] as early as in the R16 clash. Apart from the two shuttlers, second seed Marc Zwiebler and fifth seed Brice Leverdez along with indonesian duo of Jonatan Christie and Ihsan Mustofa will fancy their chances to go the distance in Bangkok.
Can Saina reign supreme?
All England runner-up Intanon has been handed a tough draw as she is expected to face compatriot and fifth seed Nitchaon Jindapol in the quarter-final. The world number faces a tricky opening-round test against India's Rituparna Das on Wednesday.
Saina, on the other hand, opens her campaign against world number 116 Slovakian shuttler Martina Repiska. The world number 10 is unlikely to be challenged in the initial stages of the tournament, but her inconsistency in the ongoing season is a cause of concern.
TV Schedule
India: Star Sports
Singapore: Hub Sports
Malaysia: Astro Supersport
China: CCTV-5
Seeding information
| Men's singles | Women's singles |
| 1. Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) | 1. Ratchanok intanon (Tha) |
| 2. Marc Zwiebler (Ger) | 2. Saina Nehwal (Ind) |
| 3. Sai Praneeth (Ind) | 3. Beiwen Zhang (Usa) |
| 4. Jonatan Christie (Idn) | 4. Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) |
| 5. Brice Leverdez (Fra) | 5. Nitchaon Jindapol (Tha) |
| 6. Ihsan Mustofa (Idn) | 6. Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) |
| 7. Zulfadli Zulkiffli (Mas) | 7. Michelle Li (Can) |
| 8. Wei Nan (Hkg) | 8. Fabienne Deprez (Ger) |
| 9. Iskandar Zulkarnain (Mas) | -- |
| 10. Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Idn) | -- |
| 11. Pablo Abian (Esp) | -- |
| 12. Sourabh Verma (Ind) | -- |
| 13. Wei Feng Chong (Mas) | -- |
| 14. Emil Holst (Den) | -- |
| 15. Khosit Phetpradab (Tha) | -- |
| 16. Suppanyu Avihingsanon (Tha) | -- |
For daily schedule, click here.
