Sameer 6th; Srikanth, Prannoy way below in race for World Tour Finals

With big guns K Srikanth and HS Prannoy battling poor form, Sameer Verma emerged as the best-placed Indian in the race for a place in the BWF World Tour Finals with two-thirds of the season completed.

Sameer, who had clinched the Swiss Open earlier this year, remained in the hunt to qualify for the USD 1,500,000 season-ending event as he is currently in the sixth place in Race to Guangzhou Rankings.

However, Srikanth, who had an exceptional season last year, languished at 41st place as his best finish this season was a semi-final at the Malaysia Open.

Prannoy, who had a topsy-turvy year with a series of injuries, was at the 42nd place.

In women's singles, Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu was firmly at the second place, while Saina Nehwal was at 27th.

The BWF World Tour Finals will be held from December 12 to 16 at Guangzhou, China and only the top eight players in each of the five disciplines of the HSBC Race to Guangzhou Rankings will qualify to compete in the season finale.