Lee Chong Wei in; Lee, Chong Wei Feng out

Phase II qualifying lists for the 2015 BWF World Championships were released yesterday by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and men’s singles showed rejections of most of the highest-profile players.  Previously announced in the Malaysian press, after much speculation, was the exclusion by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) of world #31 Chong Wei Feng, with two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei being sent in his place.

The highest ranked rejections, both in men’s singles and overall, were by Korea.  Two women’s doubles pairs that were disbanded from the beginning of this year are not being sent.  Also rejected was the invitation for New Zealand Open winner Lee Hyun Il, who has since moved up to the #16 spot in the world.

In women’s singles, Akane Yamaguchi is not going for Japan but national B team member Sayaka Takahashi is.  Other high profile declined invitations, though, affect players with known injury problems that have already kept them out of major tournaments this spring.  Included in this category are players like Maneepong Jongjit and Saralee Thoungthongkam.

The BWF continues with its rather murky qualifying process.  Many teams with 4 players in the top 24 in a discipline have been limited to three invitations but that quota can be superseded once the federation creates its reserve list, which its own schedule says was to have been made last week.

What’s more, the Phase II lists feature three different scenarios in situations where member associations’ declining of invitations has made other players eligible.  In cases such as Malaysian men’s singles, the Phase II list indicates that BAM has already given the BWF a ‘Yes’ for Lee Chong Wei, even though he was not invited in Phase I.  On the other hand, Korea, since it has declined the invitation for Lee Hyun Il, is being given the option of sending Lee Dong Keun but the younger Lee is shown only with ‘invited’ on the Phase II list.  A third scenario is visible in mixed doubles, where Brazil declined invitations both for its #55 and #61 ranked pairs but the BWF shows the #84-ranked pair from Turkey as invited, but not the #83 Brazilians.  While there is surely a logical reason for the differences in results from declined invitations, it is clear that part of this process is not explained merely by the qualification rules published on the BWF website.

Click the links below to download the Phase II qualifying lists:

Men’s singles
Women’s singles
Men’s doubles
Women’s doubles
Mixed doubles