Canada’s Michelle Li became the first singles player from the Pan Am region to qualify for the season finale, in its current version as the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018.
The Markham native qualified in seventh place in Women’s Singles on the HSBC Race To Guangzhou Rankings.
The by-invitation HSBC BWF World Tour Finals features the top eight players and pairs on the World Tour in the calendar year. Two doubles players from Pan Am – Canada’s Charmaine Reid and USA’s Tony Gunawan – had qualified for previous season finales, then known as the World Superseries Masters Finals. Reid had qualified with Germany’s Nicole Grether in 2008 and 2009 in Women’s Doubles, while Gunawan had qualified with Indonesia’s Candra Wijaya in Men’s Doubles in 2008.
The eight qualifiers in all five events were finalised after the final qualifying tournaments – the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships and the Scottish Open that both concluded on Sunday 25 November 2018.
Beiwen Zhang reachs a quota
Spain’s Carolina Marin, who had automatic qualification as World champion, withdrew due to injury.
Sayaka Takahashi, ranked ninth, was not invited as two Japanese players – Nozomi Okuhara (No.2) and Akane Yamaguchi (No.3) qualified ahead of her. Only two players per member association can qualify in each category.
The player next in line, He Bingjiao (China), also could not accept the invitation due to injury. USA’s Beiwen Zhang has now been invited. If the invitation is accepted, Zhang will join Michelle Li in making history for the continental confederation as the only two singles players from Pan Am to qualify to the season finale.
In fourth place is China’s Chen Yufei, who won her first major event at the Fuzhou China Open, while Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, winner of the Malaysia Masters, qualified in fifth place. India’s Pusarla V Sindhu, runner-up in India and Thailand, qualified in sixth place.
TEXT BY DEV SUKUMAR – BWF| BADMINTONPHOTO
