DUBAI // India’s PV Sindhu, the women’s singles silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will be making her debut alongside badminton’s elite at the prestigious season-ending Dubai World Superseries Finals following a spectacular surge in the final two qualifying events.
With only two events left on the 12-tournament qualifying World Superseries, Sindhu had little hope of making it to Dubai, ranked a modest No16 on the Destination Dubai rankings. Only the top eight in the men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles rankings qualify for the lucrative $1 million annual season-finale, which will be held from December 14-18 at the Hamdan Sports Complex this year.
Sindhu, 21, however, made a late surge up the ranking charts, winning the China Open to add 11,000 points to her tally before reaching the final in Hong Kong last week, where she lost 15-21, 17-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying.
“I did not think too far ahead,” Sindhu was quoted as saying on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website. “I knew that if I did well, I would qualify for Dubai. I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s an honour to play in Dubai, it’s an event that I have always wanted to qualify for. My form is good and hopefully it will continue in Dubai. I’m happy that I did well the last two weeks. I’m a bit upset I didn’t win Hong Kong, but Tai played better than me.”
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Sindhu will be up against a star-studded women’s singles field in Dubai, which includes Spaniard Carolina Marin, who beat her in the Rio Olympic final, 2014 Superseries winner Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, the Chinese duo of Sun Yu and He Bingjiao, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, winner of three Superseries titles this year, and South Korea’s Sung Ji-hyun.
There were three players from Denmark in the top eight of the Destination Dubai men’s singles ranking, but with only a maximum of two allowed from each country, the 2014 World Superseries Finals runner-up Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, No5 in the rankings, will not be making the trip to Dubai.
Vittinghus was in the running with two events to go, ranked ahead of Rio bronze-medallist Viktor Axelsen, but appendicitis ruled him out of the China and Hong Kong tournaments. Axelsen and Jan O Jorgensen, the No1 in the Destination Dubai rankings, will represent Denmark here.
“They’ve [Dubai] done a good job making things interesting for the players,” Jorgensen told the BWF website. “You see a lot of players wanting to qualify.
“It’s a lot of small things. All the events should be like that. You want to go to Dubai. Less matches, prestige, good prize money, nice surroundings, gala, everything. It’s very nice and that’s something we players like.”
The two Danes will be battling it out against the Rio gold medallist and world champion Chen Long of China and his compatriot Tian Houwei, Malaysia’s three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei, Son Wan Ho of South Korea, Hong Kong’s Ng Ka-long and German Marc Zwiebler.
The mixed doubles will see defending champions, England’s husband and wife pair of Chris and Gabby Adcock come back to defend their title after qualifying in seventh, but they should face a stiff challenge from Rio gold medallists Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, who are in blistering form, winning their third Superseries title of the year in Hong Kong.
Tickets for the Dubai World Superseries Finals are on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae. Prices start from Dh25, with those under 18 years entering for free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
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