Top badminton stars from across the globe have headed to Kowloon to take part in the year's final Superseries tournament - Hong Kong Open, starting Tuesday, November 21.
Quite a few shuttlers will be looking to use the upcoming tournament to seal their spots in the season-ending Dubai Superseries Finals, starting December 13.
While the likes of PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth (India star has withdrawn from Hong Kong Open) have already made the eight-player elite lists, world number 10 HS Prannoy and world number 11 Saina Nehwal have one last opportunity to join the rest at the World Superseries Premier event.
Prannoy, Saina chase Dubai berths
HS Prannoy, who is currently at the 11th spot in Dubai Destination Rankings (2820 points adrift 8th placed Lee Chong Wei) starts his campaign against Hong Kong's Hu Yun.
The 25-year-old reigning national champion needs to be at his best if he has to go deep into the tournament as he is likely to face in-form reigning world champion and number one ranked Viktor Axelsen as early as in the second round.
| Points break-up for Superseries tournament |
| Winner - 9,200 |
| Runner-up - 7,800 |
| Semi-finalists - 6,420 |
| Quarter-finalists - 5,040 |
| 2nd round - 3,600 |
| 1st round - 2,220 |
Saina handed tough draw
Saina's chances of qualifying for the Superseries Finals in Dubai are slim as the Indian shuttler, with 36,360 points, is 5440 points adrift of eighth-placed He Bingjiao of China.
The world championships bronze medallist opens her campaign against Denmark's Mette Poulsen and is likely to meet Chen Yufei as early as in the second round. If she manages to get past the initial rounds, a quarter-final meeting against world number one and defending champion Tai Tzu Ying awaits her.
Meanwhile, Sai Praneeth, who skipped the China Superseries Premier last week, is also in with an outside chance to get a Dubai berth. The Singapore Open champion takes on world number three Son Wan Ho in the opening round on Wednesday, November 22.
Sindhu may face Yamaguchi hurdle again!
On the other hand, world number two PV Sindhu, who was crushed by Akane Yamaguchi in the semi-final of China Open last week, will look to get back to form.
Last year's runner-up begins her tournament against a qualifier and is likely to meet Yamaguchi, against whom she is struggled in the recent past, in the quarter-final.
Meanwhile, qualifier Sourabh Verma made it to the main draw, in which he will face Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in the opening round.
Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will face qualifiers in the opening round of men's doubles while Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy take on China's Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei in women's doubles.
How to watch matches on TV, online
Global live streaming: BWF YouTube channel
India: TV: Star Sports. Live streaming: Hotstar
Malaysia: TV: Astro Supersport. Live streaming: Astro Go
Singapore: TV: Star Hub. Live streaming: Starhub Go
Live scores can be followed on BWF's official website.
