Eight of the top Men's and Women's singles stars have arrived in Dubai for the World Superseries Finals, starting 14 December.
The year-ending tournament will see the top-eight shuttlers in each categories drawn into two groups of four players each. Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen and Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying are the top seeds for the tournament, which also has Olympic champions Lee Chong Wei, Viktor Axelsen, Carolina Marin and PV Sindhu.
IBTimes Singapore has come up with an overview of the recent performances (2016) of all the Men's singles Superseries Finals qualifiers. [Click here for performance overview of Women's singles stars]
1. Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark)
The top seed Danish shuttler won the China Open last month, beating local hope Chen Long in the Men's singles final. Apart from his success at the badminton powerhouse, Jorgensen also came close to winning the crown at Japan Open, Indonesia Open and German Open. His low point came when he exited Rio Olympics 2016 after a first round defeat to India's Kidambi Srikanth.
Also read: Lee Chong Wei handed tough draw in Dubai
2. Son Wan Ho (South Korea)
The world number six has had a consistent run since his Rio Olympics campaign, in which he was ousted in the group stages after defeat to eventual champion Chen Long in the second round. The South Korean shuttler has reached the final stages of four straight Supseries tournaments - Japan, Korea, Denmark and France, right after the Olympic Games. He also finished runner-up in Singapore Open in April.
3. Tian Houwei (China)
The 22-year-old Chinese shuttler began the year with a bang by reaching the final of All England Open, in which he succumbed to defeat in straight games to two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan. However, the world number seven has not tasted a lot of success since then.
4. Ng Ka Long (Hong Kong)
The 22-year-old shuttler kept reaching the final stages at Singapore and Germany but was not able to clinch a title until he played at home in the Hong Kong Open Superseries. The world number nine defeated unseeded Indian shuttler Sameer Verma in the final to win the crown.
5. Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)
The world number four has had a remarkable year in 2016. After he finished as the runner-up in last year's Superseries Final, Axelsen won a bronze at this year's Rio Games, beating Lin Dan in the medal match. He also reached the semi-final of China Open, in which he lost to reigning Olympic champion Chen Long.
6. Marc Zwiebler (Germany)
The world number 14 has become the first shuttler from Germany to qualify for the Men's singles event at the Superseries Finals. After having an ordinary first half, Zwiebler reached the semi-final of Japan Open in September.
7. Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia)
The world number one suffered a heartbreak in the Rio Olympic final against Chen Long and settled for his third straight silver at the Games. While he won the Japan Open in September, a knee injury in Denmark kept him out of the remaining Superseries events in 2016.
8. Hu Yun (Hong Kong)
The 35-year-old shuttler replaced Chen Long, who declined a wildcard entry into the year-ending tournament. His best performance of 2016 came when he reached the semi-final of Hong Kong Open.
