Lakshya is expected to qualify for the World Tour Finals as the youngest Indian ever
Image credit: NDTV Sports
Lakshya Sen is likely to become the country’s youngest shuttler to qualify for the season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, which begin on December 1 in Bali, Indonesia.
On the BWF world circuit, the 20-year-old from Almora has had a solid performance and is currently rated sixth.
He will compete alongside Kidambi Srikanth (ranked third in men’s singles), P V Sindhu (ranked fourth in women’s singles), and Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy (ranked sixth in women’s doubles) at the event, which was moved from Guangzhou to Bali due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Srikanth, Sameer Verma, Sindhu, and Saina Nehwal, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, have all competed in the year-ending competition.
While Sindhu is the only Indian to win the BWF World Tour Finals this year, Saina reached the pinnacle battle of the BWF Superseries Finals in 2011. Srikanth and Sameer made it to the knockout stage but were unable to advance to the finals.
Lakshya, who won five titles in 2019 before COVID-19 banned the international circuit, has been on a roll, finishing in the final of the Dubai Open and reaching the semifinals of the Denmark Masters and the Hylo Open.
After falling twice to top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in the Indonesia leg, Lakshya was unable to advance further in the draw.
Following the end of the ongoing Indonesia open Super 1000 event, the official list of players qualifying for the World Tour Final will be released.
Only the top eight players and pairs in each category from the Road to Bali Rankings will be asked to compete in the World Tour Finals, with each Member Association having a maximum of two players or pairs competing.
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