P V Sindhu, back from a break, will try to hit the right notes in her quest for confidence-boosting wins ahead of the Paris Olympics as she leads India’s campaign in the Malaysia Masters badminton event, which begins on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. Sindhu, a former world champion, returns to the international circuit after missing the Uber Cup and Thailand Open, and she hopes to win big in the women’s singles draw of the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament.

The 28-year-old from Hyderabad has struggled to regain her peak form since recuperating from a knee injury incurred in October of last year. Sindhu, who won silver and bronze medals in the Olympics, has had a difficult return, suffering a succession of tight losses. Sindhu has only reached the quarterfinals twice in her six competitive outings.

Sindhu’s last triumph came in the 2022 Singapore Open, but she came close to winning the Spain Masters last year when she reached the finals in Madrid. Sindhu, who sustained a stress fracture in her left ankle while winning gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, will seek to get off to a fast start this week when she faces Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland.

Top stars such as An Se Young, Chen Yu Fei, Akane Yamaguchi, and Carolina Marin are not participating this week. Sindhu will be desperate to test her preparation against the next generation players, who have recently troubled her a lot. Sindhu has flashed glimpses of her frightening game in a new setup under trainer Prakash Padukone, but her shot selection has been inconsistent.

Ashmita Chaliha, Aakarshi Kashyap, and Malvika Bansod will also hope to achieve solid results after being on the circuit for quite some time. Chaliha has played some great matches against players such as Han Yue and Aya Ohori, whom she recently pushed to three games.

In men’s singles, Kiran George is the lone Indian in the fray and he will open against Japan’s Takuma Obayashi. India’s top-ranked duo and the Thailand Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have opted out and it will be a chance for Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K to show their prowess in men’s doubles. In mixed doubles, the husband-wife duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy, and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath would be carrying India’s hopes to win a title.