A gallery of A-list stars bring the spotlight to Wuhan where the main rounds of the Badminton Asia Championships 2018 start tomorrow.
The Badminton Asia Championships heralds the start of a busy season for the top stars after a breather following the Yonex All England in mid-March. The championships in Wuhan will be followed by back-to-back HSBC BWF World Tour events in New Zealand and Australia before the badminton world converges on Bangkok for the TOTAL BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2018.
While nearly all the big names of Asia will be in the hunt for the prestigious continental title, there will be special interest in a certain Kento Momota. The former Men’s Singles World No.2 hasn’t been seen in a top-tier event since the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2016 that he won. Momota’s form will be keenly watched, for he could play a pivotal role in Japan’s campaign to regain the Thomas Cup that they won in 2014. His last appearance at the Badminton Asia Championships was in 2014, when he lost to China’s Liu Kai in the first round. The Japanese, currently ranked No.17, takes on Vietnam veteran Nguyen Tien Minh in his opening test tomorrow.
India’s Kidambi Srikanth, who enjoyed World No.1 status for a week recently, is top-seeded and has some big challenges lined up, beginning with the fast-improving Kenta Nishimoto (Japan), whom he vanquished in the French Open final last year. Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, who beat Kidambi in the Commonwealth Games final, is a likely quarter-final opponent.
All England champion Shi Yuqi (China) and Momota are in the second quarter.
The bottom half of the draw is headed by Korea’s Son Wan Ho, who has a possible quarter-final against China’s Lin Dan or India’s HS Prannoy. Defending champion Chen Long (featured image), who is in the third quarter, hasn’t been close to his best form in recent months and will be keen to reassert himself.
Chen Long’s opening-round opponent will be Jordan’s Bahaedeen Ahmad Alshannik, who will get the chance to play his idol tomorrow. The Jordanian won both his group qualifying matches today, against Brunei’s Jaspar Woon Chai and Mongolia’s Batdavaa Munkhbat, in straight games.
“I’m happy that I qualified to the main draw of the Badminton Asia Championships for the first time,” said the Jordanian, who recently joined the police force. “We’ve been in the training camp for the last three months. I failed to qualify the last two years. This time I’ll be playing Chen Long so I’m pleased.”
Other Men’s Singles qualifiers were Ratnajit Tamang (Nepal), Hu Yun (Hong Kong) and Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Thailand).
In Women’s Singles, Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying will be looking to carry on with her stupendous run of form that saw her dominate 2017 and early 2018. The defending champion is unlikely to be troubled until the semi-finals.
The second quarter has some interesting battles lined up early; World champion Nozomi Okuhara, on the mend after injury, faces local prospect Gao Fangjie in her opening test. Commonwealth Games champion Saina Nehwal and No.4 seed Ratchanok Intanon are also in this quarter.
India’s Pusarla V Sindhu, China’s Chen Yufei and Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun are in the bottom half of the draw.
Two Singaporeans – Yeo Jia Min and Grace Chua – qualified to the main draw, along with Jeon Jui (Korea), Nguyen Thuy Linh (Vietnam).
China head the opposite ends of the draw in Men’s Doubles through top seeds Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen and second seeds Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan. Japan’s Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda (3) and Takuto Inoue/Yuki Kaneko; Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe Huei/Lee Yang and Chen Hung Ling/Wang Chi-Lin; Malaysia’s Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong, and Thailand’s young duo Tinn Isriyanet/Kittisak Namdash are the pairs to watch out for.
Former World champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan qualified to the main draw, as did compatriots Angga Pratama and Rian Agung Saputra. Fellow-qualifiers Niluka Karunaratne/Dinuka Karunaratna (Sri Lanka); Amrullo Bakhshullaev/Artyom Savatyugin (Uzbekistan) will also be seen in opening-round action tomorrow.
Japan have a strong presence in Women’s Doubles, with their top four pairs – Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi; Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto; Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota and Naoko Fukuman/Kurumi Yonao – in the hunt. Top seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan haven’t been in their best form lately and will seed to revive their fortunes, while the likes of Korea’s Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chana and Indonesia’s Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu will be confident of going all the way to the title.
Mixed Doubles too has a strong line-up. Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping and Zhang Nan/Li Yinhui lead Chinese hopes. They will have to navigate a testy field, with the likes of Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir; Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet; Japan’s Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, and Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai providing the resistance.
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