Dubai: Top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth would be aiming for a great finale to what has been a good year for Indian badminton when they take the court at the USD one million Dubai Super Series Finals badminton tournament starting here Wednesday. Only the top eight in men’s and women’s rankings get the chance to play in the season-ending event.
Hence World No.3 Sindhu and World No.4 Srikanth can’t afford to be complacent when they begin their campaign against China’s World No. 9 Hi Bingjiao and World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark respectively at the Sheikh Hamdan Indoor Stadium here.
Both Sindhu and Srikanth are coming into the tournament after a highly successful year. Srikanth definitely will be raring to go after a rest of one month during which he was recovering from a hammy nigg
“It is an important event. I reached the semis in 2014 and in 2015, I lost in the league stages but it doesn’t matter. We, as players, have to forget what had happened and start afresh. I hope to do well this year,” Srikanth stated.
World No. 4 Srikanth has been placed in ‘Group B’ of men’s singles event along with Chou Tien Chen (World No. 7) and Shi Yuqi (World No. 8), apart from Axelsen.
Sindhu, who had reached the semifinals at the last edition, has been clubbed with the Japanese duo of No. 2 ranked Akane Yamaguchi and World No. 15 Sayako Sato, besides Bingjiao in Group A.
“It has been a good year for me. Now I really hope that I end the year on a winning note. It will be really worthwhile,” said the 22-year-old shuttler from Hyderabad.
“It is not going to be easy as all the top players will be playing in this event. Each match from the first round itself will be very tough. So I will have to be prepared from the start to do well,” she added.
The four players in each group will compete against each other in the preliminaries with the top two advancing to the semifinals.
Srikanth broke his three-match losing streak against defending champion and World No. 1 Axelsen when he defeated the Dane in his home town during the Denmark Open quarterfinals in October and hence would be full of confidence while taking the court. Similarly, Sindhu is 4-5 behind in the head-to-head count against Bingjiao but she will take confidence from her recent win against the Chinese at the Korea Open in September.
Sindhu In 2017 Srikanth in 2017
Syed Modi International Winner French Open Winner
Indian Open Winner Denmark Open Winner
Korean Open Winner Australian Open Winner
World Championship Runner-up Indonesia Open Winner
Hong Kong Open Runner-up Singapore Open Runner-up
Press trust of India