Hyderabad: The BWF World Tour Finals began in Hangzhou on Wednesday. But for the first time since 2010, no Indian will be part of the year-end major.
Only the top 8 in the World Tour ranking reach the Finals for which a different ranking system is adopted. The top doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty is ranked No. 2 in the world but is ranked No. 10 on the Tour. While the top 10 tournaments are considered for the World Ranking, points from 14 tournaments are taken into account to determine the Tour Rankings.
Satwik-Chirag, the Asian champions, the Asian gold medalists and the Indonesian Super 1000 champions, therefore, missed the bus as Asian tournaments do not count for World Tour qualification.
Some early exits in major tournaments also tarnished his prospects. Winning the Asian championships is as good as winning the world championships because all the best doubles players come from Asia. Satwik-Chirag, considered among the best in the world, was also forced to miss key tournaments due to injuries.
Satwik-Chirag not playing in World Tour finals is a shame, says renowned coach U Vimal Kumar. “Satwik-Chirag should have been there. BWF considers the best 14 results for qualification. The Asian Championships were not considered and that affected our chances. They are the most followed pair and it is a shame that they are not competing” , Vimal said.
Uday Pawar, the coach who trained Chirag, felt that the ranking rule should be the same as the world ranking. “The qualifying rules for the World Tour Finals should be the same as the World Ranking. Maybe, they have separate rules to encourage the top players to play in the Super-1000 and other big events. But the players who miss out those events due to injuries will be missed,” Pawar said, adding that missing the Finals may be a blessing in disguise as the duo get time to recharge their batteries for the Olympics.
Head coach Pullela Gopichand said not taking Asian Championship points into account hurt the Indians. “It’s sad that the pair who finished the year as world No. 2 are not part of the Tour Finals. Not counting points from the Asian Championship affected their ranking points. But they can take advantage this time to prepare for next year’s important tournaments.” said Gopichand.
HS Prannoy, who won a bronze at the world championships, also failed to make it. Prannoy’s world ranking is No. 8, while his World Tour ranking is No. 12.
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