Lakshya Sen set to become youngest Indian to qualify for World Tour Finals

By PTI

NEW DELHI: India’s Lakshya Sen is set to become the youngest shuttler from the country to qualify for the season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals which will be held in Bali, Indonesia from December 1.

The 20-year-old from Almora has enjoyed an impressive run on the BWF world tour and is currently ranked fifth in the World Tour rankings.

He will join Kidambi Srikanth (ranked 3rd) in the men’s singles competition, two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu (4th) in women’s singles and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy (6th) at the event, which was shifted from Guangzhou to Bali due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Srikanth, Sameer Verma, Sindhu and London bronze- medallist Saina Nehwal have competed in the year-ending tournament in the past.

While Sindhu is the only Indian to win the BWF World Tour Finals in 2018, Saina had reached the summit clash of the BWF Superseries Finals in 2011.

Srikanth and Sameer have reached the knockout stage but couldn’t enter the finals.

Lakshya, who claimed five titles in 2019 before COVID-19 suspended the international circuit, has been on a roll with a final finish at Dubai Open and semifinal results at Denmark Masters and Hylo Open.

In the Indonesia leg, Lakshya couldn’t progress deep in the draw after losing twice to top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan.

The official list of players qualifying for the World Tour Final will be announced after the conclusion of the ongoing Indonesia open Super 1000 event.

The top eight players and pairs for each category in the Road to Bali Rankings will be invited to compete, where only a maximum of two players or pairs per Member Association are eligible to participate in the World Tour Finals.