Saina eyes China Open to seal Dubai berth

FUZHOU (CHINA): Newly-crowned national champions Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy will look to enhance their chances of qualifying for the Dubai Super Series Finals with a good performance at the USD 700,000 China Open Superseries Premier starting here today. Former World No.1 Saina upstaged Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu in the national finals last week to claim her third championship crown, while Prannoy stunned Kidambi Srikanth to clinch his maiden title at the 82nd edition of the event at Nagpur. Interestingly, both Saina and Prannoy are ranked 11th in the Destination Dubai Ranking and are racing against time to book a berth at next month's Super Series Final with just two Super Series events -China Open and Hong Kong Open -- left in the calender. The 27-year-old Indian, who clinched a bronze medal at the Glasgow World Championship, will open her campaign against USA's Beiwen Zhang, while Prannoy will face a qualifier in the opening round.