Dubai World Superseries Finals: Kidambi Srikanth faces Viktor Axelsen in opener; PV Sindhu takes on He Bingjiao

Dubai: Rio Olympic silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu will begin her campaign against lower ranked Hi Bingjiao of China in the women’s singles event of the season-ending Dubai Superseries Finals starting on Wednesday. World No 3 Sindhu has been clubbed along with No 2 ranked Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, Sayako Sato, also of Japan, and Bingjiao in Group A. All the four players will meet each other in a round-robin format. [caption id=“attachment_4236441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Kidambi Srikanth. Reuters[/caption] The other group has World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, Sung Ji Hyun of Korea, Ratchanok Intanon Thailand and Chen Yufei of China. Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain and world champion Nozomi Okuhara have withdrawn from the elite competition. Sindhu is going into the tournament with a lot of confidence having clinched the India Open Super Series and Korea Open Super Series, besides bagging the silver at Glasgow World Championship and finishing runners-up at Hong Kong Open this season. Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth has been placed in Group B of men’s singles event along with World No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, Chou Tien Chen and Shi Yuqi. Srikanth will be up against Axelsen in the first match of the tournament on Wednesday. Srikanth has also been at the peak of his powers this season as he became the only Indian, and the fourth player ever, to win four Super Series titles in a calendar year. He won the Indonesia Open, Australia Open, Denmark Open and French Open before he was forced to miss the China Open and Hong Kong Open owing to a thigh muscle strain, which he had sustained at the Nationals in Nagpur last month.