Lakshya Sen of India 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.
The 20-year-old from Almora has had a strong run on the BWF World Tour and is presently ranked sixth in the standings.
He will compete alongside Kidambi Srikanth (ranked third in men’s singles), two-time Olympic medalist P. V. Sindhu (4th in women’s singles), and Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy (6th 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 lone Indian to win the BWF World Tour Finals this year, Saina reached the BWF Super series Finals’ summit showdown 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 far 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 from each category in the Road to Bali Rankings will be invited to compete, with each Member Association only allowing two players or pairs to compete in the World Tour Finals.
