BWF has released Destination Dubai SS Finals top 8 qualifiers based on 27th November 2014 Superseries ranking : MS : http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=607879&dl=1 WS : http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=607880&dl=1 MD : http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=607881&dl=1 WD : http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=607882&dl=1 XD : http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=607883&dl=1 The deadline of confirmation from member associations : 5th December 2014 DRAW date : 15th December 2014 (10.00am local time), Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai-UAE. From the above lists, China has maximum 2 quotas in all categories except MS where Chen Long is sole representative for badminton powerhouse. Kenichi Tago and Akane Yamaguchi are qualified due to Lee Chong Wei temporary suspension and China WS over quota that forces Wang Yihan stay at home, same case for WD & XD disciplines where CHN must trim 3 pairs and 1 pair respectively to fulfill only two slots of each category.
Li Xuerui will not be going to Dubai due to injury. Wang Yihan will replace her. Source - http://www.bwfbadminton.org/news_item.aspx?id=90021
Not surprising as LXR's injury has affected her regular training, at the same time CBA cannot afford to let her risk aggravating her injury seeing as both WYH and WSX are not so consistent as her in dealing with the ROW. Looking forward to WYH and WSX performing up to expectations. However, in the absence of LXR, the WS field is once again thrown wide open, just like the CHN Open and the HK Open, the last two legs of the SS where LXR also pulled out due to injury. Sadly, injury is always the bane of professional athletes.
In WS, Akane Y is the dark horse, she can be dangerous for anyone, esp when she has the least to lose and can play most freely.
Yup, too bad she can't defend her title after impressive result in this year SS tour. The big one is FRA SS, if he won it then he would be qualified for Dubai Finals.
As I've posted on LXR's thread, she has a right foot surface fracture and been put on plaster cast since 17th Nov for at least six weeks. She can only resume systematic training sometime next month.
Oh no...I wanted to see LXR battle it out showcasing her superiority again...alas it isn't possible... I hope she recovers soon and exhibit her top notch of play for fans like us!!! Well the need of the hour demands WSX at her best I don't see WYH sailing anywhere near to the championship its all on the shoulders of steady and wise WSX ... KT has been a flop show recently by the grace of fortune he is surely in the list yet its a waste of opportunity WZM: the unpredictable would've been a better candidate to replace the formidable LCW
My prediction for the winner: Men's Singles: Chen Long or Son Wan Ho Ladies Singles : Wang Shixian /Wang Yihan or Saina Men's Double: Lee Yong dae/Soo Woman Double. : Tian Qing /Zhao Yunlei Mix Double : Xu Chen /Ma Jin or Zhang Nan /Zhao Yunlei
what i feel specially about womens singles is anything can happen here as well, as it did happened in the world championships. both the wang's looked mentally tired in the last couple of superseries, saina played well but in patches to be honest. .not expecting much either from the trio of ratchanok, bae and sung. i think tai and akane can give tough time to the top three seeds wang shixian, wang yihan and saina nehwal respectively. .pressure will be on the top three.
Both of them displayed weak performance in last two SS, interesting to follow whether they will bounce back here.
Hi, Yamaguchi is top 10 by end of the year. There were many people thrashing me when I made that prediction at the start of this year. I think nokh88 was one of them? Talk about eating some humble pie now...
Actually, end of 2014 is left with next week tournament. If Akane won, she will get 11000, minus 2220(which is her second worst point in 2014 tournaments, she took part in 12, including this SS finals), so she will end up with 54725.1 point. That is still not enough to be in top 10. But of course she will most likely to be in top 10 in the next few months.
She's top 10 based on Super Series tournaments this year hehe (9th). And yes, her overall ranking of 17th is simply going to get higher. Top 10 by end of 2015? More like end of January 2015 hehe. She's regularly beating the best - thrashed Wang Shixian recently and beat Ratchanok twice this year. She hasn't played Li Xuerui much, but she took her to 3 sets earlier this year (18-21 in the 3rd set). Her biggest rival/difficulty is actually another Japanese up and coming player - Nozomi Okuhara. She's never beaten her in 4 matches (hasn't even taken a set off her): http://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/r...-41A2-BC3E-CB57133E64CC&t1p1=96713&t2p1=96312 Funny thing is that Yamaguchi probably has a much higher chance of beating Li Xuerui, the Wangs etc, than this talented Nozomi girl. I guess everyone tends to have their "kryptonite".
Latest update, Xu Chen/Ma Jin withdrew and this vacant spot will be replaced by their compatriot, Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (#8 SS ranking) => http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=608941&dl=1
Group Stage DRAW The draw has been conducted at 11.00am local time in InterContinental Hotel, Dubai. Men's Singles : Group A 1) Chen Long (CHN) 2) Son Wan Ho (KOR) 3) Kenichi Tago (JPN) 4) Hans Kristian Vittinghus (DEN) Group B 1) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN) 2) Kidambi Srikanth (IND) 3) Kento Momota (JPN) 4) Tommy Sugiarto (INA) Women's Singles : Group A 1) Wang Shixian (CHN) 2) Saina Nehwal (IND) 3) Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) 4) Bae Yeon Ju (KOR) Group B 1) Wang Yihan (CHN) 2) Ratchanok Intanon (THA) 3) Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) 4) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) Men's Doubles : Group A 1) Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR) 2) Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (INA) 3) Chai Biao/Hong Wei (CHN) 4) Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol (KOR) Group B 1) Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin (TPE) 2) Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN) 3) Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan (CHN) 4) Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN) Women's Doubles : Group A 1) Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 2) Christinna Pedersen/Kamila Rytter Juhl (DEN) 3) Jung Kyung Eun/Kim Ha Na (KOR) 4) Chang Ye Na/ Kim So Yeong (KOR) Group B 1) Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda (JPN) 2) Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (CHN) 3) Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii (INA) 4) Luo Ying/Luo Yu (CHN) Mixed Doubles : Group A 1) Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (CHN) 2) Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na (KOR) 3) Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock (ENG) 4) Michael Fuchs/Birgit Michels (GER) Group B 1) Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (INA) 2) Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA) 3) Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 4) Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (CHN) *source : https://twitter.com/BWFDubaiFinals
