WORLDS 2011 – Qualifiers known; awaiting confirmation

The ranking date for determining eligibility for the 2011 BWF World Badminton Championships was April 28th.  The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has published the lists of qualifiers according to the rankings on that date.

China once again leads the way in the number of entries and is the only nation to have four players qualify, with three Wangs and a Jiang making the grade in women’s singles and even a fifth, Li Xuerui, eligible should one of the other four drop out.  China also has 3 qualifiers in men’s singles but can only field 3 pairs in women’s or mixed doubles if they send one or two pairs that have recently been disbanded.

Other nations with 3 qualifiers in one event include Korea (men’s singles and doubles), Japan (men’s and women’s doubles), Thailand (women’s singles), and Indonesia, which can send three men’s singles players, two women’s doubles pairs and may be the only nation with three pairs in the mixed doubles.  China, of course, can decide to re-unite Ma Jin with a former partner, a move that resulted in gold in Paris last year for Ma and Zheng Bo.

In order to have 3 qualifiers, one nation must have 3 in the top 24 but most badminton powers will be able to choose 2 players who were sitting in the top 125 at the end of April, provided they are within draw size of the top.  This means that a lengthy confirmation process has begun which will see many other players become eligible in cases where qualified players have retired or become injured and the final entry lists will not be known for at least another month.

The complete qualification rules can be accessed here and preliminary qualifying lists are available for download from the BWF website, using the links below:

• MS
• WS
• MD
• WD
• XD