Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth sole Indians in the fray

Saina has a tough task ahead of her

India’s Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth have qualified for the all-important BWF World Superseries Finals, to be played in Dubai from the 9th of December. Both singles players, are the only Indian names in the prestigious year-ending event.

The Dubai Superseries finals, features only the top 8 players in the world, across singles, doubles and mixed doubles format, and is also expected to be the most thrilling and closely fought affair between the top players. Despite Srikanth being ranked 9th in the world, he made the lucky cut for a second straight year along with Saina. Previously, in the 2014 edition, both the players, who had qualified from India, bowed out in the semi-finals. Srikanth lost to Chinese Chen Long while Saina conceded defeat against Chinese Taipei player Tai Tzu Ying, who went on to win the final.

Parupalli Kashyap, who was world number 8 till last month, was unfortunate to miss out on the event, after an injury he faced in the French Open Super Series. The injury resulted in the Indian dropping to number 14 in the world rankings.

Saina is the current world number 2, and will face a stiff challenge from World Number 1 and rival Carolina Marin, and the defending champion Tai Tzu Ying, who she lost to in the semi-finals last year. Srikanth on the other hand, will face a tough challenge from the Chinese contingent.

Disappointingly, there will no representation for India in either Men’s, Women’s or Mixed Doubles categories, with one of the bigger contenders in the second category-Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa-failing to make cut after finishing in 12^th place in the rankings.