BWF World Tour finals, Guangzhou, China

[sameerph]

Opening a new thread for this year ending tournament as it was held in Dubai till last year and was called superseries finals. Now, it is renamed as per new tournament structure and moved to China.

Similarly, like last year we have 1 representative each in mens and womens singles- Sindhu and Sameer Verma (instead of Srikanth who was there last year).

These are the gorupings for them.


Mens singles -

Group A:
1. Chou Tien Chen [TPE/1]
2. Shi Yuqi [CHN/4]
3. Son Wan Ho [KOR]
4. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting [INA]

Group B:
1. Kento Momota [JPN/2]
2. Tommy Sugiarto [INA/3]
3. Kantaphon Wangcharoen [THA]
4. Sameer Verma [IND]

Womens singles -

Group A:
1. Tai Tzu Ying [TPE/1]
2. Akane Yamaguchi [JPN/3]
3. Pusarla V. Sindhu [IND]
4. Zhang Beiwen [USA]

Group B:
1. Nozomi Okuhara [JPN/2]
2. Chen Yufei [CHN/4]
3. Ratchanok Intanon [THA]
4. Michelle Li [CAN]

Our players have 2 tough matches on first day tomorrow - Sindhu against Yamaguchi and Sameer against top ranked Momota.

[sameerph]

Sameer had a one sided loss against world #1 but Sindhu had a good win to start with against world #2.

[M1] Sameer Verma (IND,14) l. Kento Momota (JPN,1) 18-21 6-21

[M1] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) d. Akane Yamguchi (JPN,2) 24-22 21-15

[Sin Hombre]

Momota will win all his matches so not a bad loss for Sameer. Must win against Sugiarto today.

TTY will beat Sindhu so qualification will depend on beating the much improved Zhang tomorrow.

TTY and Momota are both extremely dominant so bit unlucky to be in their group. It does mean that you don't have to face them in the semis if you get there.

[Sin Hombre]

Sameer crushes Sugiarto 21-16, 21-7 !

[suresh]

That is a good win for Sameer. Momota beat Wangcharoen. If Sameer beats Wangcharoen, he is through to the SF as it is highly probable that Momota wins his last match against Sugiarto.

[suresh]

Sindhu beats TTY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loses first set and wins second set. TTY jumps up to an early lead and it appears that Sindhu is finished. Then, Sindhu wins 7 points in a row to snatch a two point lead and then kept her nose ahead rest of the way to win the third set 21-18.

[sameerph]

Excellent win by Sindhu. Beating world #2 and world #1 in back to back days shows what Sindhu can do in big tournaments where she is focused. Hope she continues this form thru this tournament.

Yamaguchi beats Zhang in straight games in the other group match. So, Sindhu is thru to the SF here irrespective of what happens in her third group match tomorrow.

[arjun2761]

Nice wins by Sindhu and a nice surprise from Sameer Verma. Hope they can continue this success...

[suresh]

Both Sindhu and Sameer win their last matches and are through to the SF. Sindhu tops her group with 3 wins out of 3 and Sameer will most probably be second.
PUSARLA V. Sindhu (IND) d Beiwen ZHANG (USA) 21-9 21-15
Kantaphon WANGCHAROEN (THA) l Sameer VERMA (IND) 9-21 18-21

[SaniaFan]

I expect Sindhu to reach final. And she has a very good chance of winning it as well. Tai is already out.

[ornatebrute]

Not sure if it's the first time in like 2 years Tai has lost two matches consecutively (albeit this one was a retirement due to injury?). Nevertheless, Tai couldn't manage to make it to the SFs even last year. And Sindhu had topped her group last year as well, with Yamaguchi occupying the second spot. But as luck would have had it, PVS lost against Yamaguchi in the finals.
Really hope and pray that luck is on Sindhu's side this time and she wins this tournament. She deserves it: for her talent, for her consistency and for her to shut a section of media and fans.

[jaydeep]

Yes, good wins from Sindhu and Sameer ... In the semis, Sindhu is having a challenge of the Thai girl, Ratchanok Intanon ... And Sameer is facing a Chinese Yuqi Shi.

[ornatebrute]

....and Sindhu is through to finals yet again as she defeats a formidable opponent in Ratchanok Intanon 21-16 25-23.
She is set to face her nemesis uno (:D) Nozomi Okuhara in the finals

[sameerph]

Yes,Sindhu is in final with another good win.

[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) d. Ratchanok Intanon (THA,8) 21-16 25-23

And that brings the repeat of last year's world championship finals.

[F] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs. Nozhomi Okuhara (JPN,5)

This can be another close one. They are 6-6 in head to head. This year it is 2-1 in favour of Sindhu with a win in this year's world championships. Hope Sindhu breaks her final jinx in big tournaments.

Sameer will play his SF in a little while.

[sameerph]

Sameer Verma loses a close one against Chinese world #2.

[F] Sameer Verma (IND,14) l. Yuqi Shi (CHN,2) 21-12 20-22 17-21

Sameer had a match point in second game which he missed and the Chinse came back strongly in the third.

Still, a great tournament and a great year for Sameer which has seen him go ahead of Prannoy and Sai Praneeth as India #2. At this rate, he may move ahead of Srikanth as India #1 and in top 10 next year.