Dubai: French Open winner Kidambi Srikanth and P.V. Sindhu, the two in-form Indian shuttlers, are on track to qualify for the Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, to be held from December 13-17 at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
With the world’s best players set to assemble here, tickets are now on sale for this badminton showpiece. To compete for a share of the $1 million prize pool, the players must finish in the top eight at the end of the 12-event Metlife Superseries and with the 2017 world champions guaranteed a spot in the final eight, the battle is on for the remaining seven qualification places in each of the men and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories.
Alongside world champion and Dubai World Superseries Finals defending champion Viktor Axelsen, Srikanth is one of the few players guaranteed a spot in the men’s singles in Dubai after a stellar season which has seen him appear in five finals so far, taking four titles including this week’s Yonex French Open.
Korea’s Son Wan-ho and Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen also look fairly certain to qualify, but the remaining places are still up for grabs in the final two events, the China Open and the Hong Kong Open.
In the women’s singles, it has been a tussle between Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi and Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying for top spot in the rankings. Two-time Dubai winner Tai took her fourth title for the year at the French Open, while Yamaguchi is yet to claim one. She has made at least the quarter-finals in every event this year and has been runner-up three times, including at the French Open, keeping her at the top of the leader board.
Sindhu is on track to join world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon and Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin in the final eight.
The Superseries Finals will be held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.
