PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma, the two Indian shuttlers participating at this year’s Badminton World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China played a draw in their respective singles event today.
In what could easily be labelled as the group of death, PV Sindhu will be rubbing shoulders against defending champion Akane Yamaguchi, Beiwen Zhang, and Tai Tzu Ying. On the other hand, Sameer Verma will have to overcome tough opponents in Kento Momota, Kantaphon Wangcharoen, and Tommy Sugiarto.
The draw for the latest edition took place on Monday at Guangzhou in China where the tournament is going to be held. The two players and pairs who top their respective groups will then qualify for the semi-finals. A separate knockout draw will be conducted for the same.
This will be the most challenging draw of the year for Sindhu, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, is she intends to make it to the last four. In fact, she has lost to all three players in Group A last year.
However, Sindhu will elicit some confidence from the fact that she has beaten Yamaguchi of Japan 4 times in spite of losing to her at the All England Championship. Nonetheless, she as been unsuccessful in her quest to beat Tai Tzu of Chinese Taipei, although she has gotten the better of Zhang of the USA in 2018.
Exclusive: @Pvsindhu1 has been adjudged as ‘Best Dressed female player’ at the BWF Gala Awards Night in Guangzhou ahead of the season-ending prestigious BWF World Tour Finals that starts on 12th Dec.
Last year, @srikidambi was adjudged ‘Best Dressed male player’ pic.twitter.com/uoZwN0Nldk— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) December 10, 2018
Sindhu, despite being featured in the tournament finals on a regular basis, has been unable to win a title in 2018. As a result, this will be the final shot of finishing at the top of the podium before the new season begins.
Verma became the unexpected representative in men’s singles from India after he won the Syed Modi International last month. However, in China, he finds himself in a lesser competitive side as compared to Sindhu. Howbeit, he still has the massive challenge of overcoming Momota. The Japanese shuttler has been in hot form this year, having won the World Championships and the Asia Championships.
The men’s singles Group A is brimming with top seeds as Chou Tien Chen, All England champion Shi Yuqi, Anthony Ginting, and Son Wan Ho all will compete for the top prize.
Men’s Doubles
Group A
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon vs Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
Han Chengkai vs Zhou Haodong
Li Junhui vs Liu Yuchen
Kim Astrup vs Anders Skaarup Rasmussen
Group B
Chen Hung Ling vs Wang Chi-Lin
Liao Min Chun vs Su Ching-Heng
Mohammad Ahsan vs Hendra Setiawan
Hiroyuki Endo vs Yuta Watanabe
Women’s Doubles
Group A
Misaki Matsutomo vs Ayaka Takahashi
Greysia Polii vs Apriani Rahayu
Chen Qingchen vs Jia Yifan
Du Yue vs Li Yinhui
Group B
Mayu Matsumoto vs Wakana Nagahara
Jongkolphan Kititharakul vs Rawinda Prajongjai
Lee So Hee vs Shin Seung Chan
Gabriela Stoeva vs Stefani Stoeva
Mixed Doubles
Group A
Zheng Siwei vs Huang Yaqiong
Dechapol Puavaranukroh vs Sapsiree Taerattanachai
Goh Soon Huat vs Shevon Jemie Lai
Marcus Ellis vs Lauren Smith
Group B
Yuta Watanabe vs Arisa Higashino
Chan Peng Soon vs Goh Liu Ying
Hafiz Faizal vs Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja
Wang Yilyu vs Huang Dongping
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