Sindhu, Prannoy lead India's challenge at Malaysia Open Super 750

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, was shown the door in the opening round by China's He Bing Jiao at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 earlier this month and she will have to put behind that defeat when she begins her campaign against a formidable Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. While Sindhu enjoys a 5-3 head-to-head count against Chochuwong, the Indian has lost to the Thai world number 10 three times in their last five meetings, making their clash a mouth-watering prospect. If she can cross the opening hurdle and hit a consistent run, Sindhu might come across Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal also stars in the same half of the draw and will open against USA's Iris Wang. A win will put her face-to-face with Japanese sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara, a former world champion. Saina had skipped the Indonesia leg to manage workload and will look to put up a good show against Wang, whom she had defeated in three games the only time they met last year at Orleans Masters.

In men's singles, Prannoy has been on a consistent run with a series of quarter-finals since the world championships last year. He played a pivotal role in India's epic Thomas Cup win and then dished out some superlative performances in Jakarta to reach the semifinals. The 29-year-old was crestfallen after a series of unforced errors led to his ouster from Indonesia.