Dubai: Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and leading Indian male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth were seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, Thursday for the $1,000,000 World Super Series Finals December 17-21.
The tournament will be held in the Hamdan Sports Complex, Dubai.
Srikanth, who won the China Open Super Series Premier, will play in the season-ending tournament for the first time.
There are no Indians in the doubles for men’s, women’s and mixed categories in the event competed by top eight players in each category.
Following the last of the 12 MetLife BWF World Superseries tournaments — the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open — the season-ender has begun to take shape with the likes of men’s singles titans Chen Long of China, Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen and Srikanth, as well as women’s singles world No. 1 and Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China, Ratchanok Intanon Nehwal all securing their berths in the showdown.
In the men’s singles, China’s Chen Long looms large as the one to beat and he is keen to keep his Dubai fans happy after his visit to the city last month gave him a taste of things to come.
“I’m looking forward to playing in the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals, especially after an enjoyable visit to the city last month. Hamdan Sports Complex is an amazing venue and I think all the players will love it. I know many of them are also looking forward to sightseeing and visiting some of the world-famous locations like Burj Khalifa. This is a great reward for the top players at the end of the season and I personally want to perform well and finish 2014 on a high note,” said the top Men’s Singles qualifier.
Nehwal, who broke local hearts by snatching the China Open championship earlier this month in Fuzhou, leads the challenge versus China and is thrilled to be packing her bags for Dubai.
“I’m very excited to play in Dubai which is such a beautiful city. For the first time we will be playing such a big tournament there with the top-eight players for the year. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of Indian fans. It will be great fun,” said Nehwal, who was fourth in the rankings.
