Saina in Superseries Finals; narrow miss for Jayaram

The year-ending World Superseries Finals, which will bring the curtains down on the season for 2012, will be held in Shenzhen, China, from December 12 to 16. As expected, India’s Saina Nehwal qualified as one of the eight elite players, but compatriot Ajay Jayaram missed the opportunity by a whisker.

Although Jayaram is ranked world No. 32, behind teammate Parupalli Kashyap (No.21), invitations to the Superseries Finals are based on the Superseries Rankings, where Jayaram is at No. 11. As No.9 Sho Sasaki (Japan) declined the opportunity, the next in place was Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (No.10). The most prominent name missing from the tournament will be world and Olympic champion Lin Dan, who hasn’t participated in any Superseries event after the Olympics.

Nehwal reached the final of the Superseries Finals last year, where she lost to Wang Yihan 18-21 21-13 21-13.

Here is the list of qualifiers:

Men’s Singles: Lee Chong Wei (Mas); Chen Long (Chn); Kenichi Tago (Jpn); Hu Yun (HK); Daren Liew (Mas); Boonsak Ponsana (Tha); Du Pengyu (Chn); Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Den).

Women’s Singles: Li Xuerui (Chn); Juliane Schenk (Ger); Wang Shixian (Chn); Saina Nehwal (Ind); Tine Baun (Den); Sung Ji Hyun (Kor); Eriko Hirose (Jpn); Ratchanok Intanon (Tha).

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Edited by Staff Editor