Defending champion Chen Long of China is seeded only third in this year’s Badminton Asia Championships to be held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China from April 24-29.
India’s K.Srikanth has been given the top billing with Korea’s Son Wan-ho seeded second. China’s rising star Shi Yuqi, the newly crowned All-England champion, is seeded fourth – ahead of Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, winner of the title in 2016 while last year’s runners-up Lin Dan is the seeded sixth.
Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei and Angus Ng Ka Long complete the seedings as the seventh and eighth seeds respectively.
Badminton Asia chief operating officer Kenny Goh said the Badminton World Federation ranking list on March 1 was used for players eligibility while for seedings the BWF list on March 2 was used. The draw for the Asian Championships will be held on April 3 (Tuesday).
“Due to the tight international schedule we may have some withdrawals before the draw is made as some of the top players are also competing in the Commonwealth Games but we expect a strong field in Wuhan. Asian teams will use the Asian Championships for their Thomas Cup and Uber Cup preparations apart from the Asian Games,” said Kenny Goh.
The Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals will be held in Bangkok from May 20-27 while Indonesia will host the Asian Games in August.
Defending women’s singles champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei is the top seed while last year’s runners-up Akane Yamaguchi of Japan is seeded second. India’s P.V. Sindhu, the Rio Olympics silver medallist is seeded third while Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand who won the title in 2015 is seeded fourth.
The rest of the seedings in the women’s singles are Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara (sixth) followed by China’s Chen Yufei and He Binjiao who are seeded seventh and eighth respectively.
Chinese pairs Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen and Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan are the top two seeds in the men’s doubles while Japan’s Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda are seeded third followed by Chinese Taipei pairs Chen Hung ling-Wang Chi-lin (fourth seeds) and Lee The-huei-Lee Yang (fifth).
Japan’s Olympic champions Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi who retained their Asian title last year are seeded second behind China’s Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan in the women’s doubles. Japanese pairs also occupy the next two places with Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota seeded third and Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto fourth. Indonesia’s Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu are seeded fifth.
In the mixed doubles Indonesia’s Olympic champions Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir get the top billing in the mixed doubles. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
THE TOP SEEDS
MEN (Singles)
1. K. Srikanth (Ind)
2. Son Wan-ho (Kor)
3. Chen Long (Chn)
4. Shi Yuqi (Chn)
5. Lee Chong Wei (Mas)
6. Lin Dan (Chn)
7. Chou Tien-chen (Tpe)
8. Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg)
WOMEN (Singles)
1. Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe)
2. Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn)
3. P.V. Sindhu (Ind)
4. Ratchanok Intanon (Tha)
5. Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn)
6. Chen Yufei (Chn)
7. Sung Ji-hyun (Kor)
8. He Bingjiao (Chn)
MEN’S DOUBLES
1. Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn)
2. Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan (Chn)
3. Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda (Jpn)
4. Chen Hung-ling-Wang Chi Lin (Tpe)
5. Lee The-huei-Lee Yang (Tpe)
6. Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko (Jpn)
7. Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto (Ina)
8. Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Mas)
WOMEN’S DOUBLES
1. Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn)
2. Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn)
3. Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn)
4. Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto (Jpn)
5. Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rohayu (Ina)
6. Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan (Kor)
7. Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha)
8. Du Yue-Li Yinhui (Chn)
MIXED DOUBLES
1. Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir (Ina)
2. Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn)
3. Tang Chun-man-Tse Ying-suet (Hkg)
4. Seung Jae-soo-Kim Ha-na (Kor)
5. Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn)
6. Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie (Mas)
7. Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (Mas)
8. Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha)
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