2017 has been a memorable year for Indian badminton, especially in the singles category, where the nation's shuttlers have recorded some fine performances on the circuit and won a host of tournaments at all levels. At the ongoing Korea Open Super Series, ace shuttler PV Sindhu kept that fine run going with a splendid performance in the semifinal against He Bingjiao, winning 21-10, 17-21, 21-16.
Sunday's final will be a rematch of the recently concluded World Championships gold medal match, where Sindhu lost out to Nozomi Okuhara in the longest match in the history of the competition. The Indian will be looking to avenge the loss, as she faces off against the Japanese shuttler in their second meeting in three weeks.
With her semis win on Saturday, Sindhu also created a new record for India's shuttlers, showcasing their dominance over the BWF circuit in the singles category. By entering the final of the Korea Open, which is the seventh tournament of the Superseries circuit, Sindhu has ensured that India has the most finalists in the singles categories of Superseries events so far this year.
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She will become the sixth Indian finalist, which the most by any country so far this year in the singles events. In second place is Japan, who have had five shuttlers in the finals, all of which have come in the last three tournaments in Korea, Australia and Indonesia.
It was Sindhu who set the ball rolling in 2017, as she won the India Open in April, defeating Carolina Marin in the final. The next two members in the list are Sai Praneeth and Srikanth Kidambi, as they contested the decider in Singapore, which was also the first time two Indian shuttlers had reached the final of a Superseries event.
The next two spots are also taken by Srikanth, with his twin title wins in Indonesia and Australia, where he defeated Kazumasa Sakai of Japan and Chen Long of China in the final respectively.
Japan's shuttlers have also been on the rise in the past few months, with Okuhara clinching her maiden gold medal at the World Championships last month. Here is the country-wise table of Superseries singles finalists in full!
India (6 - Srikanth Kidambi x 3, PV Sindhu x 2, Sai Praneeth)
Japan (5 - Nozomi Okuhara x 2, Akane Yamaguchi, Kazumasa Sakai, Sayaka Sato)
Chinese Taipei (4 - Tai Tzu Ying x 3, Chou Tien Chen)
Spain (3 - Carolina Marin x 3)
China (3 - Lin Dan, Shi Yuqi, Chen Long)
Indonesia (2 - Jonatan Christie, Anthony Ginting)
Malaysia (2 - Lee Chong Wei x 2)
Thailand (1 - Ratchanok Intanon)
Denmark (1 - Viktor Axelsen)
South Korea (1 - Sung Ji Hyun)
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