Women's singles stars PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal and men's singles player Kidambi Srikanth will carry India's hopes of ending its drought of boasting a world title holder as the BWF World Badminton Championships begin.

Olympic silver medallist Sindhu will look to break the jinx of losing major finals and better the colour of her medal having won two bronze medals (2013 and 2014) and a silver last year. Her epic final against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara at Glasgow last year went down as one of the greatest matches of all time, clocking 110 minutes. The Indian is likely to meet Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the third round, crossing which will probably put her face-to-face with defending champion and familiar foe Nozomi Okuhara in the quarterfinals.