The finest of the finest in the Badminton world are set to begin their battle for the year end championship, the Destination Dubai World Series Superfinal from 9-13 December.
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Only the top eight in the world in the five possible categories: single’s men and women, double’s men and women and mixed doubles are eligible to be a part of the tournament.
Top seeded and already a two time winner of the tournament Chinese Chen Long, is drawn with two fellow Chinese and the the second seeded, Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen.
Commenting on this, Chen said, “There is no good draw to be had in an event like this. All eight players are great and you have to do well from the start. And I don’t think about being defending champion. This is the perfect tournament with a fantastic atmosphere last year, and I expect this year too, and I want to enjoy it.”
If he successfully manages to defend his title, it’ll be his record third title at the iconic year ending tournament, and his 12th title of the year.
The other group is relatively balanced with world number five, Kento Momota from Japan leading the group followed by world number six and seven, Viktor Axelsen and Chou Tien-Chen respectively.
In the women’s department, newly crowned championed, Carolina Marin seems to be the favourite to round off the best year of her career so far. She faces a tough draw though with World Number 2 from India, Saina Nehwal, current champion, Tai Tzu Ying from Taipei and Nozomi Okuhara from Japan.
The other group contains three former World Champions, Wang Shixian and Wang Yihan and Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand. The fourth member is the World Number 4 from Korea Sung Ji-hyun.
In the men’s doubles department the current champions from Korea, Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong are place in the same group as world champions from Indonesia, Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
On similar grounds, the women’s doubles champions from Japan, Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi find themselves in the same group as Luo Yiu and Luo Yu, the twin sisters from China.
Speaking at the pre-event Press Conference and Draw today, Poul-Erik Høyer, president of the Badminton World Federation said: “We are delighted to be back in Dubai for the annual showpiece to crown the season’s top players. We are also thrilled with the exciting partnership we have developed which has allowed us to share our sport with Dubai and the wider Gulf region.
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