India's Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu are among the contenders for the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) Player of the Year 2017 awards, to be presented in Dubai this month.
The prestigious prizes, announced on the eve of the season-ending Dubai World Superseries Finals, recognise the top-achieving player/pair in four categories: Male Player of the Year, Female Player of the Year, Most Promising Player of the Year (Eddy Choong Award) and the Most Improved Player of the Year.
Winners of the first three categories will be chosen by the BWF Awards Commission from a list of nominees while the Most Improved Player is special direct award from the Commission.
Srikanth has had a memorable year so far winning four Superseries titles and also reaching the quater-finals of the World Championships. He also reached his career best world number two rank last month.
The 24-year-old captured Indonesia Open, Australian Open, Denmark Open and French Open. Due to injury, he had to pull out of China Open and Hong Kong Open. Now, he will be hoping to sign off on a high in Dubai World Superseries Finals.
Sindhu, who won two Superseries titles - India Open and Korea Open, also bagged silver in World Championships this year. There are six contenders for the Female Player of the Year award.
Another Indian - Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, features in the Most Promising Player of the Year award nominees. The 17-year-old doubles player reached quarter-finals in two Superseries events and semi-finals of one Grand Prix Gold tournament.
The awards will be presented on Monday (December 11).
Here are the nominees and the highlights of their season (listed alphabetically by member association)
MALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
ZHENG SIWEI (CHINA): Men's Doubles (MD), Mixed Doubles (XD)
Silver Medal: World Championships 2017 (XD); Silver Medal: Sudirman Cup 2017; Winner - 4 Superseries: Malaysia Open (XD); Australian Open (XD); China Open (XD); Hong Kong Open (XD); Runner-up - 5 Superseries: India Open (XD); Malaysia Open (MD); Indonesia Open (XD); Danisa Denmark Open (XD), French Open (XD)
VIKTOR AXELSEN (DENMARK): Men's Singles (MS)
Gold Medal: World Championships 2017; Winner - 2 Superseries: India Open; Japan Open; Runner-up – 1 Superseries: China Open; Bronze Medal: European Championships 2017
KIDAMBI SRIKANTH (INDIA): Men's Singles (MS)
Quarter-Finals: World Championships 2017; Winner - 4 Superseries: Indonesia Open; Australian Open; Denmark Open; French Open; Runner-up – 1 Superseries: Singapore Open
MARCUS FERNALDI GIDEON/KEVIN SANJAYA SUKAMULJO (INDONESIA): Men's Doubles (MD)
Quarter-Finals: World Championships 2017; Winners – 6 Superseries: All England; India Open; Malaysia Open; Japan Open; China Open; Hong Kong Open; Runners-up - 2 Superseries: Korea Open; Denmark Open
FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHEN QINGCHEN (CHINA): Women's Doubles (WD), Mixed Doubles (XD)
Gold Medal: World Championships 2017 (WD); Silver Medal: World Championships 2017 (XD); Silver Medal: Sudirman Cup 2017; Winner – 5 Superseries: Malaysia Open (XD); Indonesia Open (WD); Australian Open (XD); China Open (WD); Hong Kong Open (WD); Runner-up – 4 Superseries: India Open (XD); Indonesia Open (XD); Denmark Open (XD), French Open (XD)
HUANG YAQIONG (CHINA): Women's Doubles (WD), Mixed Doubles (XD)
Silver Medal: Sudirman Cup 2017; Winner – 6 Superseries: All England (XD), India Open (XD), Singapore Open (XD); Korea Open (WD); China Open (XD); Hong Kong Open (XD); Runner-up – 2 Superseries: Malaysia Open (WD & XD); Gold Medal: Badminton Asia Championships 2017 (XD)
TAI TZU YING (CHINESE TAIPEI): Women's Singles
Winner – 5 Superseries: All England; Axiata Malaysia Open; Singapore Open; French Open; Hong Kong Open; Gold Medal: Badminton Asia Championships 2017
PUSARLA V SINDHU (INDIA): Women's Singles
Silver Medal: World Championships 2017; Winner – 2 Superseries: India Open; Korea Open; Runner-up – 1 Superseries: Hong Kong Open
AKANE YAMAGUCHI (JAPAN): Women's Singles
Bronze Medal: Sudirman Cup 2017; Winner – 1 Superseries: China Open; Runner-up – 3 Superseries: Australian Open; Denmark Open; French Open; Silver Medal: Badminton Asia Championships 2017
LEE SO HEE (KOREA): Women's Doubles
Gold Medal: Sudirman Cup 2017; Quarter-Finals: World Championships 2017; Winner – 2 Superseries: All England; Denmark Open; Runner-up – 4 Superseries: Indonesia Open; Korea Open; French Open; China Open; Bronze Medal: Badminton Asia Championships 2017
List of Qualifiers #DubaiSSF
— Indonesia Badminton (@INA_Bminton) November 30, 2017
Who will be the winner? pic.twitter.com/tbrtbdVPcT
MOST PROMISING PLAYER OF THE YEAR (EDDY CHOONG AWARD)
CHEN YUFEI (CHINA): Women's Singles
Silver Medal: Sudirman Cup 2017; Bronze Medal: World Championships 2017; Semi-Finals – 2 Superseries: Japan Open, Denmark Open; Quarter-Finals – 4 Superseries: Malaysia Open, Australian Open; French Open; Hong Kong Open; Quarter-Finals: Badminton Asia Championships 2017
SATWIKSAIRAJ RANKIREDDY (INDIA): Men's Doubles (MD), Mixed Doubles (XD)
Quarter-Finals – 2 Superseries: French Open (MD); Korea Open (MD); Semi-Finals – 1 Grand Prix Gold: Dutch Open (XD)
APRIYANI RAHAYU (INDONESIA): Women's Doubles
Winner – 1 Superseries: French Open; Runner-up – 1 Superseries: Hong Kong Open; Quarter-Finals – 1 Superseries: Korea Open; Winner – 1 Grand Prix Gold: Thailand Open; Semi-Finals – 1 Grand Prix Gold: New Zealand Open
GREGORIA MARISKA TUNJUNG (INDONESIA): Women's Singles
Gold Medal: World Junior Championships 2017; Runner-up – 1 Grand Prix Gold: Syed Modi International
LEE ZII JIA (MALAYSIA): Men's Singles
Semi-Finals – 3 Grand Prix Golds: Thailand Masters; Yonex Open Chinese Taipei; Badminton Open; Winner: Polish International
