Dubai: India’s Saina Nehwal hopes to ride on popular crowd support and advance as far as possible in the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals that get underway at the Hamdan Sports Complex here on Wednesday.
Nehwal, the world number three, was on Monday drawn in Group A alongside China’s Wang Shixian and two players from South Korea, Sung Ji-hyun and Bae Yeon-ju. Group B consists of China’s Wang Yihan, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.
“I am happy and excited to play here in Dubai as there are a lot of Indians here. Of course there will be a lot of pressure on me to perform, more so because this is such a tough draw being in Group A. But then all the competing players are tough and in such a format one can never expect an easy draw,” Nehwal said at the pre-event press conference on Monday.
“The good thing is that I have had a good three weeks of preparations and I am feeling good. Hopefully I will play well and leave the rest in the hands of god.”
The 24-year-old’s toughest opponent will be China’s world number one Wang. They have played 10 times previously and the record stands level at five wins each.
“We’ve played each other three or four times this year itself and all the matches have been long. I reckon it will be a 50-50 affair between the two of us,” Nehwal said.
In the men’s section, world number one Chen Long looks like the hot favourite for the crown.
Heading Group A, Chen will meet Korean Son Wang-ho, Kenichi Tago of Japan and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark. Group B consists of Jan O. Jorgensen of Denmark, K. Srikanth of India, Kento Momota of Japan and Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto.
“This tournament is definitely the highlight for me and I will try my best to be the champion. Since this is the first time for this tournament in Dubai, I really want to play my best,” Chen said.
