Badminton World Tour Finals: The final tournament of the 2022 BWF Tour, the BWF World Tour Finals is all set to begin in less than a week on 7th December, Wednesday. This will be the fifth edition of this event and only HS Prannoy could make the cut for the season-ending tournament representing Indian this time. Prannoy will be the fourth Indian man to feature in this event after compatriots Sameer Verma, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen. No Indian man has so far won the title and Prannoy chases history. Follow BWF World Tour Finals 2022 LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
Badminton World Tour Finals: From Sameer Verma to Lakshya Sen, A lookback at Indian Men’s singles players performance at BWF World Tour Finals – Check Out
In the Men’s Singles, HS Prannoy finished third in the BWF World Tour Rankings and has qualified for the event. He is the only Indian men’s singles player top make the cut as World No.7 Lakshya Sen and World No.11 Kidambi Srikanth couldn’t secure spots in the tournament as they finished 11th and 10th in the race to the BWF World Tour finals.
InsideSport takes a look at the performances of Indian men’s singles players in the tournament so far.
Sameer Verma – 2018
Sameer Verma was the first Indian men’s singles player to qualify for the BWF World Tour finals during its first edition in 2018. Verma was the seventh seed in the tournament and He was placed in a group that had second seed Kento Momota. Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto and Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen, who were third and sixth seed respectively.
Being the lowest ranked player in the group the Indian lost his first match on straight games against Kento Momota. However he made a good comeback as he beat Sugiarto and Wangchaoren in straight games in the next two matches to advance tp semifinal. In the semifinal, he met China’s Shi Yuqi and lost the contest 21-12, 20-22, 17-21.
Kidambi Srikanth – 2020
The 2020 edition of the BWF World Tour Final had Kidambi Srikanth in the Men’s Singles representing India. Srikanth was the sixth seed in the tournament. He was placed in a group alongside second seed Anders Antonsen, Chinese Taipri’s Wang Tzu-wei, who was the fifth seed and sixth seeded Ng Ka Long.
Like Sameer Verma two years ago, Srikanth was expected to go past the group stages. However the Indian faired poorly in the tournament as he was unable to win even a single match in the group stages. All his three matches went into three games but he was not able to finish off the matches and bowed out from the tournament without a victory.
Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen – 2021
For the first time in the history of the BWF World Tour finals, two players from India made their way into the Men’s Singles draws. While Kidambi Srikanth entered the tournament for the second successive year, he had his young compatriot Lakshya Sen accompanying him. While Srikanth was the third seed, Lakshya Sen was given the sixth seed in the tournament.
Lakshya Sen was paired alongside World No.1 Viktor Axelsen, fourth seed Rasmus Gemke and seventh seed Kento Momota. It was a tournament that was marred with player pulling out due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Gemke and Momota pulled out without playing any group stage games and Lakshya Sen, even after losing his first game against Viktor Axelsen managed to qualify for the semifinals. The Indian then lost yet again to Axelsen in straight games in the semifinal.
Meanwhile, Srikanth was yet again unable to go past the group stages as he managed to win just a solitary match against Toma Junior Popov. He lost against Kunlavudt Vitidsarn and Malaysia’ Lee Zii Jia and finished in the third spot in his group.
Badminton World Tour Finals: From Sameer Verma to Lakshya Sen, A lookback at Indian Men’s singles players performance at BWF World Tour Finals – Check Out
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