Further in the semis, there’s possibly Dane Tine Rasmussen, whom Nehwal has never beaten, but the 19-year-old refuses to look that far ahead into the week. Nehwal’s recent performances, including her march to world No 6, mean the expectations are high. At the draw ceremony in Delhi on Tuesday, coach P Gopichand set the ball rolling. “The semis will be a good target to have,” he said, adding, “It’s a good draw for Saina. There are tough players on the circuit and a lot depends on how one performs on that given day.”

Seeded sixth, Nehwal is focusing on her targets day to day: The first round bye followed by a possible match-up with Polish Olga Konon, then Bulgarian tenth seed Petya Nedelcheva in the pre-quarters. “I’ll call it a tough draw, because there are no easy matches at an event like the World Championships. Right from Olga to Petya, they’ll be tricky to tackle,” Nehwal said. “It’ll be important to get used to the courts early,” she said of her home-venue.

Also hoping for a good run at home will be India’s top men’s player Chetan Anand, seeded 15. The Hyderabadi 29-year-old starts against Korean Ji Hoon Hong and is looking at a match-up with sixth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the third. “It’s not a bad draw, but I’ll have to play my full and natural game from the very first match by taking early points against the Korean,” he said.

Aravind Bhat, on the other hand, was handed a stiff opener, playing Taipei’s ninth seed Yu Hsing Hsieh. “I was hoping it wasn’t tougher than this - playing someone like Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei in the first round,” he said, game for the challenge. “Last time I lost to him because of silly mistakes, but he’s beatable and I’d give myself a 60-40 chance,” he added. There’s also former world champion Taufik Hidayat in the third round. “Of the top 5-6 guys, I’d rather play Taufik than anyone else at that stage,” he said. Indian wildcard P Kashyap will start against unknown Iranian Ali Shahhosseini but can run into World No 2 Jin Chen in his second round.

Beyond Saina, India’s challenge in the women’s section features Aditi Mutatkar, battling German 11th seed Juliane Schenk and her dodgy knee. Wildcard and national champion Sayali Gokhale will be up against Jie Yao of The Netherlands in the first-round.

There were no early fears in the mixed doubles for sixth seed Jwala Gutta, who along with V Diju, forms the country’s other Top10 contenders in the tournament. Jwala-Diju start off against the English pair of Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork. “It’s a pretty OK draw. We’ve played against Nathan before and lost to them. But we’re in top-form right now and seeded unlike previous World Championships,” Jwala said adding that Robertson's experience can prove to be quite a handful, though his partner is the weak link to be targetted to get over the second round after the bye in the opener.

The draw unveiled, India’ s strong contigent can kick off their last swing of preparation in right earnest. Rest assured, they'll be more to the Indians at Hyderabad than playing gracious hosts as they don the garb of equal challengers.

Other Indians in the draw