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 Final starting in Dubai on Wednesday.
Only the very best participate in this prestigious tournament with only the top eight in the respective men's and women's singles rankings earning the right to compete.
The World Number 3 Sindhu and World Number 4 Srikanth can't afford to lower their guard when they begin their campaign against the World Number 9 Hi Bingjiao and World Number 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark respectively at the Sheikh Hamdan Indoor Stadium.
Both Sindhu and Srikanth are coming into the tournament after a highly successful year.
Sindhu clinched the India Open and Korea Open, besides bagging a silver at Glasgow World Championship and finishing runners-up at Hong Kong Open last month.
Srikanth, on the other hand, became the only Indian, and fourth player ever, to win four Super Series titles in a calendar.
He won the Indonesia Open, Australia Open, Denmark Open and the French Open before being forced to miss the China Open and Hong Kong Open owing to a thigh muscle strain, sustained at the Nationals in Nagpur last month.
The one month break after the Nationals gave him ample time to work on his fitness and sharpen his game and he will hope to recreate the magic that earned him the four titles this year.
It is an important event. I reached the semis in 2014 and in 2015. We, as players, have to forget what has happened and start afresh. I hope to do well this year.Kidambi Srikanth
The World Number 4 Srikanth has been placed in Group B of men's singles event along with Chou Tien Chen (World Number 7) and Shi Yuqi (World Number 8), apart from Axelsen.
Sindhu, who had reached the semi-finals at the last edition, has been clubbed with the Japanese duo of Number 2 ranked Akane Yamaguchi and world Number 15 Sayako Sato, besides Bingjiao in Group A.
It has been a good year for me. Now I really hope the year ends on a good note, and I do well at the Dubai Super Series Finals. 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.PV Sindhu
The four players in each group will compete against each other in the preliminaries. The top two from each group will qualify for the semi-finals with A1 facing B2 and B1 taking on A2.
Srikanth broke his three-match losing streak against defending champion and World Number 1 Axelsen when he defeated the Dane in his home town during the Denmark Open quarter-finals in October and it would take another top-class performance to tame him on Wednesday.
Sindhu is 4-5 behind in the head-to-head count against Bingjiao but she will take confidence from her win against the Chinese at the Korea Open in September.
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