Match: Carolina Marin v PV Sindhu
Date: 16 December, Friday
Time: 7:30pm SGT/5pm IST/11:30am GMT
Venue: Hamdan Sports Complex, Dubai
Competition: BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016
TV Schedule: There is no live TV coverage in Singapore.
Live Streaming: BWF's official YouTube channel, Hotstar
Overview
Carolina Marin has not opened her account yet in the ongoing tournament but still has a remote chance of making the semi-final from a group that has had in-form shuttlers of the likes of PV Sindhu, Akane Yamaguchi and Sun Yu.
While Sun has already sealed her spot in the last-four stages of the year-ending tournament, it will be a battle between the other three to seal the second berth from the group. A win for Sindhu today will end the reigning Olympic champion's campaign in Dubai.
However if Marin manages a win and Yamaguchi loses, then it will be a three-way tie involving Sindhu at one point each and the qualifier will be decided based on games and points won.
Marin would not have been in such a tough position had she capitalised on the early advantage she had in the game against Yamaguchi on Thursday. After winning the first game, the world number two struggled to keep up the momentum and conceded the match 21-18, 17-21, 14-21.
In what will be a rematch of the Rio Olympic gold medal match, Marin will be under pressure this time despite having a 5-3 head-to-head advantage over Sindhu. The Spaniard, who recently recovered from an injury that kept her out of French Open 2016, has been out of form.
On the other hand, Sindhu has been in phenomenal form after winning her maiden Superseries title in China and following it up with an apperance in the final of Hong Kong Open. She opened her campaign on a high in Dubai after coming back from behind to win against Yamaguchi but on Thursday was on the receiving end against Sun.
Sindhu conceded that she had made quite a few errors in the game against Sun but maintained that she would try and get back to her best against her old foe Marin.
"It is just that from my side there were many errors. I have to just give my best and play my game. I have to go back and prepare well for tomorrow [Friday] because it is a crucial match," Sindhu said, as quoted by the Khaleej Times.
TV Schedule
India: Star Sports HD 2
