Wang, Antonsen Among Finals Debutants
Wang Tzu Wei, Anders Antonsen and Jonatan Christie are among several first-time qualifiers to the season finale, the current iteration of which is the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019 in Guangzhou.
· DEV SUKUMAR
Chinese Taipei’s Wang qualified in eighth place on the provisional rankings list after making the second round of the Gwangju Korea Masters 2019, which was the final qualifying event. (The confirmed list is awaited as the provisional qualifiers are yet to accept their invitation.)
Christie qualified in third place behind world champion Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen. Antonsen, who has had the best year of his young career so far, qualified in seventh. A maximum of two players/pairs from each Member Association can qualify.
Momota will be seeking his second Finals trophy after winning the Dubai World Superseries Finals in 2015. He fell in the title clash last year to Shi Yu Qi – one of his rare defeats in a final in recent times – and will be looking to wrap up what has been a sensational year even by his standards.