Four months after they played a sizzling final at the Rio Olympics that sent the TRPs soaring in India, badminton stars Carolina Marin and PV Sindhu are set to meet yet again. The two have been drawn in the same group at the Dubai World Superseries Finals that is scheduled to begin this Wednesday.
The prestigious year-ender is the culmination of the Superseries circuit that consists of 12 tournaments. The players rack up points through their performances in those tournaments and the top eight qualify in each of the five disciplines – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
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The Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu was the only Indian to make it to the World Superseries Finals this year after her phenomenal back-to-back final appearances at the China Open and the Hong Kong Open, winning the former.
The 21-year-old clinched the eighth and final spot, beating out compatriot and 2011 runner-up Saina Nehwal, who finished ninth and is the first alternate this time.
Sindhu’s debut at the World Superseries Finals
For Sindhu, this is her debut at this elite event. She is placed in Group B alongside the second seed Akane Yamaguchi (World Ranking: 8), ¾ seed Sun Yu (World Ranking: 6) and the 5/8 seed Carolina Marin (World Ranking: 2).
The Group A has the top seed and World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying, 3/4 seed Sung JI Hyun (World Ranking: 5), and the two 5/8 seeds – Ratchanok Intanon (World Ranking: 3) and He Bingjiao (World Ranking: 11).
After playing against every groupmate, the top two performers from each group will advance to the semi-finals where the No. 1 from one group meets the No. 2 player from the opposite group.
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Sindhu can breathe easy as she has been placed in a relatively easier group where she has won her last meetings against each of Yamaguchi and Yu with the latter being the very player she beat to the China Open title.
But there is no doubt that all eyes will be on the Olympic final rematch between Sindhu and Marin with all badminton lovers expecting the two to emulate the excellent shotmaking and gutsy play that they showed at Rio.
