Praneeth is among the notable entrants in the men's singles draw at the competition, an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 event due to begin tomorrow at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Indian player's chances of a successful title defence have been increased by the withdrawal of several of his main challengers.

Danish world number one and Olympic bronze medallist Viktor Axelsen participated last year but has opted out this time around.

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, the current world number two who won an Olympic silver medallist at Rio 2016, is among the other notable absentees.

Fourth seed Sameer Verma of India and seventh seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia have also withdrawn.

The Singapore Open is the last of four consecutive tournaments and comes prior to the World Championships in Nanjing in China, scheduled to take place from July 30 to August 5.

"There are four tournaments which are back-to-back and after a week there are the World Championships, so I think the scheduling could have been much better than what it is now," Praneeth said.

The women's tournament has also suffered from several withdrawals, including world number four and top seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.

It marks the second event in a row which Intanon has skipped after she also missed the Thailand Open.

Intanton's compatriot Nitchaon Jindapol is now the highest-seeded player in the draw.

Beiwen Zhang of the United States and Canada's Michelle Li are among those who will be hoping to take advantage of the weakened field.