Interesting groupings in Sudirman Cup draw

The draw of the Sudirman Cup was just released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), with interesting groupings. Group 1C and 1D seem to be the most difficult groups, with Denmark, Indonesia and England in the former while Korea and India are together with Malaysia in the latter. This should lead to some fierce battles in a couple of months in Dongguan, China.

Title-holder China takes on Thailand, who will have to bank on their veterans to shine, especially in men’s singles and mixed doubles, while the third country in this first group – Germany, will hope that Marc Zwiebler will have fully recovered to stand a change to make it to the quarter-final stage. Japan, winner of the Thomas Cup last year with also strong ladies, will be top seed of group 2 with Chinese Taipei and the USA for what seems to be – on paper – the easiest group to predict who should proceed to the second stage.

Draw

Group 1:
Group 1A: China, Thailand, Germany
Group 1B: Japan, Chinese Taipei, USA
Group 1C: Denmark, Indonesia, England
Group 1D: Korea, India, Malaysia

Group 2:
Group 2A: Russia, Hong Kong China, Canada, Spain
Group 2B: Singapore, Netherlands, France, Brazil

Group 3:
Group 3A: Czech Republic, Turkey, South Africa, Austria
Group 3B: Vietnam, Australia, Italy, Switzerland

Group 4:
Group 4A: Nigeria, Philippines, Iceland
Group 4B: Israel, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Kazakhstan