Indian badminton stars Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag are competing in the Kumamoto Masters to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals, while PV Sindhu has already secured her place following a successful run in the BWF World Tour circuit.
Indian Shuttlers Target BWF World Tour Finals Qualification
Indian star shuttler Lakshya Sen and popular men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be aiming to push their case for this year's Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals as they compete in the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 badminton tournament from Tuesday. The BWF Super 500 event will take place at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium from November 10 to 15, as per Olympics.com.
Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag's Campaign
Lakshya climbed eight places to reach the 10th spot in the race to the finals after securing the Hylo Open title earlier this month. The Commonwealth Games champion will be eyeing getting into the top eight, entering the cut-off zone for the BWF World Tour Finals. The BWF Finals feature the top eight players/pairs across all disciplines and will take place this year from December 9 to 13 in China. Last year at this event, Lakshya made it to the semifinals, losing to home favourite Kenta Nishimoto in three games. He also achieved a runners-up finish in the All England Open this year.
The world number six pairing of Satwik-Chirag will also be leading the men's doubles challenge, having won two BWF Super 750 titles this season, the Singapore Open in May and the China Masters in September. They also finished as runners-up in the Thailand Open. Satwiksairaj and Chirag are at 12th spot in the men's doubles world rankings and a strong finish in Japan could see them climb up and qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals.
PV Sindhu Secures Her Spot
Meanwhile, India's two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu has qualified for the season-ending BWF Tour Finals tournament following a string of strong performances in the BWF World Tour circuit. Sindhu reached the world number six in women's singles competition, her highest ranking since December 2022 following her Hylo Open title win, making her eligible for the competition.
Sindhu clinched her second title of the season after defeating Denmark's Line Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-14 in the women's singles final of the Hylo Open on Sunday. The two-time Olympic medallist wrapped up a dominant campaign in Germany with a straight-games victory, returning to the winner's circle a week after finishing runner-up at the French Open, where she lost to world No. 1 An Se Young. She won the BWF World Tour Finals title back in 2018. Sindhu had earlier won the Japan Open in July, making the Hylo Open her second title on the BWF World Tour this season. She also made it to the final of the French Open and the semifinals of the Malaysia Open and the Australian Open. (ANI)
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