Sameer Verma rises to eighth; PV Sindhu drops to sixth in race for BWF World Tour Finals

PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma continue to firmly cement their places among the best of the season in their bid to qualify for the prestigious BWF World Tour Finals, the $1,500,000 season-ending tournament to be held in Guangzhou, China from December 12-16.

Verma made it to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open last week, where he bowed out to compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in a gruelling three-game match. That awarded him 6050 points by dint of which he could exchange his place with the legendary Lin Dan and move up to No. 8 in the latest Race to Guangzhou Ranking list that was released on Thursday, October 25, 2018.

PV Sindhu, on the other hand, suffered a first round defeat at Odense. Because of that, she had to be satisfied with a meager 2660 points and thus slipped a solitary rung to sixth.

Only the top eight from each of the five categories -- men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles will get a berth at the mega year-ending event.

Last year, Sindhu made it to the final of this competition, where she lost to Akane Yamaguchi in three thrilling games. Even though a title continues to elude the Rio Olympic silver medallist in 2018, Sindhu has had some strong performances throughout the year.

She made it to the finals of the India Open, the Thailand Open, the World Championships on the BWF World Tour, besides the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games as well. The Pullela Gopichand protégé still has some more chances to rack up points at the ongoing French Open this week, and the upcoming China Open and the Hong Kong Open next month.

Sameer has been the most consistent of the Indian men’s singles shuttlers this year, winning titles at the Swiss Open and the Hyderabad Open.

Nehwal and Srikanth make big jumps

Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth’s strong show in Odense last week pushed them up in the Race to Guangzhou, albeit their chances of qualifying look bleak. Nehwal moved up by seven rungs to 20th while Srikanth climbed up 10 spots to 18th.

Srikanth had been a qualifier at the season-ender for three of the past four years, with his best result being a semi-final appearance on his debut. Nehwal too has done very well at this event, reaching the final in 2011.