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PV Sindhu remains the strongest candidate from India to qualify for the prestigious BWF World Tour Finals, the $1,500,000 season-ending tournament to be held in Guangzhou, China from December 12-16.
Sindhu slipped one place to fifth in the Race to Guangzhou Ranking list that was released on Thursday, October 4, 2018. It was a result of Nozomi Okuhara rising three places, following her title win at the Korea Open last week.
It pushed Tai Tzu Ying, Carolina Marin, and Sindhu to third, fourth, and fifth positions respectively.
The top eight players of the season, in each of the five disciplines, will get to compete at this year-ending competition. Last year, Sindhu made it to the final of this tournament, where she lost to Akane Yamaguchi in three gruelling games.
She looks good enough to qualify again this year after some solid performances throughout the season. Even though she is still searching for her first title of 2018, the Pullela Gopichand protégé has made it to the finals of the India Open, the Thailand Open, the World Championships on the BWF circuit, besides the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.
The points she earned from the India Open, the Thailand Open, the All England Open, the Malaysia Open, the China Open, the Indonesia Masters, the Indonesia Open, and the Japan Open have been taken into consideration while determining her place in the race.
Saina Nehwal, who too has been a runner-up at this tournament in 2011, is way below at 27th. Her chances of qualifying look almost over.
Sameer down to 9th
In men’s singles, the only Indian who still harbours hopes of qualifying is Sameer Verma. The 23-year-old has had a fine season so far, winning titles at the Swiss Open and the Hyderabad Open.
Verma exchanged places with Lin Dan this week. While the Indian is now ninth, the Chinese legend is currently eighth.
Kidambi Srikanth is currently languishing at 27th after struggling for most of the 2018 season. Sai Praneeth is at 31st while HS Prannoy is at 37th. With just two months to go, none of them look likely to make it through to the final eight.
