BWF World Tour Finals 2021, live streaming: PV Sindhu to lead India’s charge

Seven Indian badminton players, including two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will be competing at the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 starting in Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday.

This is India’s best representation at the tournament. In the previous BWF World Tour Finals, only two Indian shuttlers had made the cut.

The BWF World Tour Finals is the season-ending tournament of the BWF World Tour, where the top-eight players/pairs in the season’s rankings are granted entry. Watch the matches on live streaming.

The players/pairs are divided into two groups of four each. Each player/pair will play every other player/pair in their group in a round-robin format, with the top-two in each group progressing to the semi-finals.

PV Sindhu won the inaugural BWF World Tour Finals in 2018, which incidentally remains her only title on the BWF World Tour thus far.

In the 2021 edition, PV Sindhu has been drawn alongside Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong, Germany’s Yvonne Li and Line Christophersen of Denmark. The reigning badminton world champion will start as one of the favourites for the crown.

Youngster Lakshya Sen faces a tough outing in his maiden BWF World Tour Finals, having been drawn alongside Tokyo 2020 champion and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and world No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth has a relatively easier group-stage draw as he will play All England Open champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, Frenchman Toma Junior Popov and Thai youngster Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

In the men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have their task cut out against Olympic gold-medallists Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, Thomas Cup silver-medallists Kim Astrup/Anders Rasmussen and top-ranked ‘minions’ Marcus Gideon/Kevin Sukamuljo.

However, Chirag-Satwik had beaten Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin at Tokyo 2020 - their only loss at the event and then their first defeat in 2021 - and have already defeated Astrup/Rasmussen once this year.

Two-time Olympian Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner N Sikki Reddy will be making their BWF World Tour Finals debut this time.

Where to watch the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 live in India?

The BWF World Tour Finals 2021 will be telecast live on the Star Sports Select 1, Star Sports Select 2 and their respective HD TV channels in India.

Live streaming of the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 badminton tournament will be available on the Disney+Hotstar website and app.

Groups for BWF World Tour Finals 2021

Men’s singles

Group A - Lakshya Sen, Viktor Axelsen, Rasmus Gemke, Kento Momota

Group B - Kidambi Srikanth, Toma Junior Popov, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Lee Zii Jia

Women’s singles

Group A - PV Sindhu, Yvonne Li, Line Christophersen, Pornpawee Chochuwong

Group B - Akane Yamaguchi, An seyoung, Busanan Ongbamrungphan, Yeo Jia Min

Men’s doubles

Group A - Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Marcus Gideon/Kevin Sukamuljo, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, Kim Astrup/Anders Rasmussen

Group B - Christo Popov/Toma Junior Popov, Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi, Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Rambitan

Women’s doubles

Group A - Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai, Kim Soyeong/Kong Heeyong, Tan Pearly/Thinaah Muralitharan

Group B - Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy, Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva, Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith, Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida

Mixed doubles

Group A - Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying, Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje

Group B - Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith, Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet, Praveen Jordan/Melati Oktavianti