Destination Dubai super Series final - Day 1 Highlights

The last of the Badminton Superseries for the year, the Dubai Superseries final has begun today.

Conditions were fairly stable in the stadium with hardly any noticeable drift.

With several impressive performances and upsets underway, the tournament is off to a flying start. Indian ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Srikanth K both faltered in their first game here in Dubai. Saina Nehwal, who has had a very strenuous year also faces an injury scare. K Srikanth, who reached the final of the Macau Open last week, was not really on target here in Dubai on day 1.

Here are the highlights from Day 1:

Mixed Doubles:

The first match of the tournament was off to a roaring start when the Hong Kong pair of Lee/ Chau pulled off an upset against the favorites and the current world No: 1 Zhang/Zhao. Mixed doubles faced the most number of upsets on day1. Both the higher ranked pairs – Natsir/Ahmed and Bao/Liu – lost their first matches. British shuttlers Chris and Gabby Adcock, however, had a favourable day after they won their match against the Indonesian pair of Natsir and Ahmed.

In another match which lasted over an hour the Korean pair of Ko and Kim won a closely fought battle against the higher ranked pair of Fischer and Christina.

Women’s Singles:

It was a fairly regular day as far as the women’s singles was concerned.

Nozhomi Okuhara (Japan) won against Saina Nehwal in a fairly convincing manner. Nehwal hardly stood a chance in the second game as the Japanese player raced to a 10 point lead at 3-13.

The Indian superstar faces a tough competition ahead with matches against World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain and Taipei ace Tai Tzu Ying. In all the other matches, with Wang Shixian winning her match against compatriot Wang Yihan, Ratchanok Intanon winning against sung Ji Hyun and Marin winning against Tai Tzu Ying, there were no more upsets.

Men’s Singles:

In the men’s singles, two-time World Champion Chen Long registered a comfortable win against compatriot Tian Houwei. Indian top seed Srikanth continued on his poor run as he lost to Japan’s Kento Momota in two straight games.

Danish players Viktor Axelson and Jan Jorgensen also got easily through their first day matches. With Lin Dan, one of the greatest in the game, missing the tournament citing injury and Lee Chong Wei remaining unqualified, Chen Long stands a strong chance to win the Superseries final.

Indonesian players Ahsan and Setiawan in action

Men’s Doubles:

In the all exciting fast and furious Men’s Doubles discipline, doubles No 1s Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong came over Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan in three sets. In another hard fought battle that lasted over an hour, Mathias Boe and Carsten Morgensen edged past compatriots Conrad and Kolding.

The Chinese top seeds Chai Biao and Hong Wei won against Kim and Kim from Korea. Also the Indonesian pair of Ahsan and Setiawan who are back from a series of injuries seemed much comfortable against the Japanese team of Endo and Hayakawa.

Women’s Doubles:

Women’s Doubles has been seeing some exciting changes as the rest of the world tries to break free from the Chinese domination. The presence of just one team in the top five seeds proves this point. The top seeded Luo pair won comfortably against the Korean pair who are trying to establish in the international arena.

Maheswari and Polii had a favorable result as they overpowered the underdogs Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek.