Saina, Srikanth to spearhead Indian challenge at BWF Dubai year-ender
Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will be the only two Indians who will feature in the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals, which will begin from Wednesday at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai, UAE.
World No. 2 Saina will start her campaign against Nozomi Okuhara in her first match tomorrow. The Indian, who was incidentally the costliest player during the auctions of the PBL, has had quite an eventful season reaching five finals. Saina won the Syed Modi Grand Prix and the India Open Superseries, while she finished second at the All England Open in March.
She also became the first Indian woman to win the silver medal at the World Championships in August. The 25-year-old was in very good form at the China Open Superseries Premier last month but ended up faltering in the final.
Meanwhile, K Srikanth will be trying to turn around his fortunes after a commendable outing at the recently concluded Indonesian Masters where he finished second. He has not achieved everything that was expected from him, but it has been a year when he has made the difficult transition from an all-out attacking play to a more complete game - a few chinks, however, remain.
He tasted success at the India Open and also scripted history by becoming the first Indian to clinch the Swiss Open title. He will open his account against Kento Momota of Japan tomorrow. Srikanth has been placed along with Viktor Axelsen, Kento Momota and Chou Tien-Chen in pool B.
However, Saina, finds herself in a tough pool as she will be coming up against her Spanish rival Carolina Marin andTzi Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei. Saina, who is coming back from a foot injury which forced her out of the Hong Kong Open will be looking to get square, against her arch nemesis Carolina Marin. The Spaniard got the better of the Indian, two times this year during the finals of the All England Open and World Championships. Tai Tzu Ying also got the better of Saina this year, as she equalized their head-to-head at 5-5. Saina enjoys a healthy 4-0 record against Nozomi Okuhara, and is probably the only easy game that she may have in this tournament. Saina is having low expectations at this year’s Dubai trip, due to fitness concerns. “I’ve been undergoing physiotherapy for the last three weeks and I feel I’m in good shape, but you never know. I’m not expecting big results because of the injury which I had in China. I just want to give my best,” said Saina.
Whereas, chances seem to be pretty bright for World No. 9 Srikanth owing to the game maturity that he displayed during the Indonesian Masters, and also the players he is going to face. Srikanth has an impressive 2-0 record against Viktor Axelsen, as he notched up two brilliant victories earlier this year. The Indian lad registered a victory against Chou Tien Chen during the Hong Kong Open last year, to lead 1-0 advantage. Meanwhile, a tough encounter can be expected between Srikanth and Kento Momota, due to the 3-3 head-to-head record. The Guntur lad got the better of Momota during the India Open this year, to equalize the record from 2-3.
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