Some surprises in Sudirman rosters

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has released the team rosters for the upcoming Li-Ning Sudirman Cup World Mixed Team Badminton Championships and there are a few surprises.

Although the absence of Lin Dan from the China roster was expected, other men’s singles choices got only more recent hints.  Indonesia will go without Sony Dwi Kuncoro while Korea has included Son Wan Ho in their team, as well as doubles player Yoo Yeon Seong.  In fact, both Indonesia and Denmark – who are not sending Hans-Kristian Vittinghus – are heading to Malaysia without their only active players who have ever beaten Chen Long.  In women’s singles, Denmark is sending only two under-20 players, Line Kjaersfeldt and Anna Thea Madsen.

Several teams are without their first or second ranked women’s doubles pair.  Korea’s Eom Hye Won, ranked 5th in the world, is not on the list, but Jang Ye Na is, along with Kim So Young, who replaced Eom as her partner.  In the case of Indonesia, they are without the only pairs that have won major women’s doubles titles in the past two years, including world #11 Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth / Rizki Amelia Pradipta.  India will start with Ashwini Ponnappa but Jwala Gutta – whose successful combination with Ponnappa was disbanded after the Olympics and who recently announced a split with Diju Valiyaveetil – will not be in Kuala Lumpur.

China’s men’s doubles squad includes Olympic champions Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng and while their no. 2 pair is not intact with world #8 Shen Ye missing, Shen’s partner Hong Wei will be on hand to renew his partnership with Chai Biao, with whom he played in the German and Swiss Opens this year.

Source: BWF