Badminton Asia Championship April 2018: Billings and Draws

2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallists PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth have been handed the easier draws with seeds of 1 and 3 respectively in the Badminton Asia Championships 2018, to be held in Wuhan, China from 24-29 April.

Stars and their Billings

Korea's Son Wan-Ho seeded second, defending champion Chen Long of China is seeded third, China's rising star Shi Yuqi, the newly crowned All-England champion, is seeded fourth and Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei, winner of the title in 2016, seeded fifth while last year's runners-up Lin Dan is the seeded sixth.

Kenny Goh, Chief Operating Officer at Badminton Asia said that BWF World Rankings released on March 1st was used for players eligibility while the seedings, the BWF list on March 2nd was used.

The defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei has given the top billing. Akane Yamaguchi - last year’s runner-up - is seeded second, and 2015 title winner Ratchanok Intanon is fourth seeded.

The rest of the seedings in the women's singles are Japan's Nozomi Okuhara - sixth, followed by China's Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao who are seeded seventh and eighth respectively.

Round 1 Face-Offs

Draws were made in the 1st week of this month in Jakarta; Sindhu faces Pai Yu Po, while Srikanth will meet his 2017 French Open finals opponent Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the opener.

If Sindhu defeats Chen Xiaoxin of China in the Women’s Singles, as well, in the second round, she is highly expected to lock horns with the seventh seeded Sung Ji Hyun of Korea.

Former World No.1 Indian has the high chance of facing Lee Chong Wei once again in the quarter-finals, if he surpasses Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in the second round.

While, World No. 10 HS Prannoy is likely to face Lin Dan in the second round; Prannoy had previously defeated Lin in the opening round of the 2015 French Open.

Among others, B Sai Praneeth will take on Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon, while Sameer Verma, who won the Swiss Open last month, will square off against seventh seed and India Open finalist Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the opener.

2018 Commonwealth Wealth gold medallist Saina Nehwal is likely to face the World Champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the second round, if she gets through the first round.

Among Men’s Doubles, Indian second best Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will face Thailand's Bodin Isara and Nipitphon Phuangphuapet in the first round, while,  Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok will face the Korean pair Chung Eui Seok and Kim Dukyoung.

And in the Women’s Doubles, Jakkampudi Meghana, Poorvisha S Ram, Aparna Balan, and Sruthi KP will represent India.