As the deadline for the 2024 Olympics badminton qualifying period draws nearer on April 28, Asian players are all set for the big action as they scramble to ensure their spots in Paris with the best possible results in this week’s Badminton Asia Championships 2024 in China.
This year’s Badminton Asia’s flagship event is set to attract global attention with more than 300 players across Asia down for action from 9-14 April in the coastal city of Ningbo, located in Zhejiang province.
As a top-tier tournament recognised as a BWF Super 1000 event, the Badminton Asia Championships serve as the final qualifying event for Asian players seeking valuable world ranking points to help them secure their spots in the Paris sporting extravaganza in July.
Schedule:
April 9: Qualification
April 10 to 11: Preliminary rounds
April 12: Quarterfinals
April 13: Semifinals
April 14: Finals
Click here for the tournament link: https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/6B63EF37-703B-4BD6-AB50-D58ED84396BE
ONES TO WATCH
MEN’S SINGLES
Top seed Shi Yu Qi has never won the tournament while Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting will be looking to defend his title won last year after beating former world champion Loh Kean Yew.
It would be a tricky path for Shi Yu Qi who faces India’s Lakshya Sen in the opening round. Former world champion Loh Kean Yew is also in the top half with the Chinese, along with Kunlavut Vitidsarn (6), third seed Jonatan Christie and eighth seed Lee Zii Jia.
Ginting will also not have it easy with India’s Kidambi Srikanth as his rival in the opening rounds, with China’s fifth seed Li Shi Feng, Naraoka Kodai and Prannoy HS in the bottom half.
WOMEN’S SINGLES
It could be An Se Young’s year as she seeks to redeem her loss at the hands of 2023 champion Tai Tzu Ying in last year’s finals. An, drawn in the same half with He Bing Jiao, Tai and 2022 champion Wang Zhiyi, will have her sights firmly set on the winners’ podium as she seeks her first Asian title in Ningbo, and join the elite group of recent champions such as Ratchanok Intanon (2015), Tai Tzu Ying (2017, 2018, 2023) and Akane Yamaguchi (2019).
China are pinning their hopes on world No.2 and Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei (twice bronze medalist) to reclaim the women’s singles titles after their last title through Wang Zhiyi in 2022 (Manila). Chen takes on Supanida Katethong and barring any upsets, is poised for a possible clash against Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and Akane Yamaguchi.
MEN’S DOUBLES
Following the absence of world No.1 and top seed pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty who had to pull out of the tournament due to Rankireddy’s shoulder injury, the fight for men’s doubles supremacy is thrown wide open, with Korean pair Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae picked as the top favourites along with China’s Malaysia Open Champion Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto and 2022 champion Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES
The battle for the top honours has always been amongst China, Japan and Korea with last year’s edition in Dubai won by BAC two-time champion, Japanese Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota who defeated Korean pair of Baek Ha-na/Lee So Hee.
Two-time champion Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan surely fancy their chances of a third title on home soil, starting with an easy passage against the Indonesian pair of Lanny Tria Mayasari/Ribka Sugiarto.
Second seed Baek Ha-na/Lee So Hee, barring any upsets, could end up facing Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara in the last eight, but will first have to overcome a possible clash against Indonesia’s Apriani Rahayu/Siti Fadhia Silva Ramadhanti in the second round.
China has won 21 titles since first winning the women’s doubles title in 1983 while South Korea and Japan have each won seven and four respectively.
MIXED DOUBLES
China have, since 2016, dominated the mixed doubles in the Championships with five different pairs winning the titles over the last seven years (except in 2020 and 2021 when the tournament was cancelled due to Covid). Last year’s mixed doubles champion Jian Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, seeded fifth in this year’s edition, are back to defend their title but world No.1 Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong remained as the top choice to repeat their 2022 victory in Manila.
Brief facts:
• Badminton Asia Championships is one of BA’s flagship events organised to crown Asia’s best. The first tournament was held in 1962 and rotated between team and individual championships.
• Lin Dan remained as the tournament’s most successful player, winning four titles in 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015.
• Host China last won the men’s singles title in 2017 through Chen Long.
• Tai Tzu Ying will be playing in her last Asia Badminton Championships as she plans to retire next year. The Taiwanese ace, seeking her fourth Asian title in Ningbo, remained the most successful women’s singles player in the tournament with three titles (2017, 2018, 2023).
• World No.1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty created history in the men’s doubles, after emerging victorious over Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi in last year’s final, to give India its first ever men’s doubles title after 58 years.
