OLYMPIC DUMMY LISTS Mar 22 – Chen passes Gade

Current world # 4 Peter Gade (left) and #5 Chen Jin

Chen Jin has finally done it!  After knocking on the door of the world’s top 4 for months now, Chen has finally edged out in front of Peter Gade to get his name pencilled in for the London Olympics!

Gade, of course, is still officially the world #4, as the BWF’s current world rankings also take into account the points from his runner-up finish at last year’s Indian Open Super Series.  However, as the Badzine Olympic Qualification Dummy Lists count only the tournaments that will count toward London qualifying – in other words, those that will still be on the books as of May 3rd this year – Chen is now sitting just above the Danish no. 1 by almost a 1000-point cushion as he heads down south in search of his first Australian Open title.

The addition of Chen to the list of those bound for London will not affect eligibility of either of Denmark’s top two, however.  Gade and Jorgensen are still on track to qualify.  Instead, the impact will be felt at the other end of the scale, as Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania – who just lucked into a spot in last week’s lists because of Chris Adcock earning the right to do double duty – will once again be relegated to reserve.

Men’s doubles saw yet another swap in the mid-range.  The top 8 remains steady, for now, but Swiss Open champions Shoji Sato / Naoki Kawamae have leapfrogged not only their compatriots Hirokatsu Hashimoto / Noriyasu Hirata, but also Indonesia’s number two and three pairs, leaving them even farther from the top 8, where one of them would need to be to qualify along with Ahsan/Septano.  At present, with two pairs in form and lagging only 2000 points out of 8th spot, there is an outside chance that Japan, rather than the Indonesia, could be sneaking two pairs into the London draw.  Japan’s entire first string is heading down to Sydney next month, while #8 Koo/Tan of Malaysia will be staying home.

Women’s doubles are in a holding pattern for the time being but Korea’s Jung Kyung Eun / Kim Ha Na (pictured right) remain just 1000 points away from Chinese Taipei’s Cheng/Chien, with whom they are on track for a second round encounter in Sydney.  But while the Koreans will need to reach a Grand Prix Gold semi-final to boost their ranking at all, they themselves are in danger of being overtaken by Indonesia’s Polii/Jauhari.  Even more worrying for the Koreans, Swiss Open champions Tang Jinhua / Xia Huan of China are now only 5000 points back and have two tournaments in hand.  As they will not be playing the Australian Open, they are mathematically excluded from reaching the top 4 but merely a couple of wins in India and at the Badminton Asia Championships will propel them into 8th spot and make the Koreans’ trailing behind Cheng/Chien a moot point.

The other change brewing in women’s doubles involves Malaysia.  With their semi-final finish in Basel, Chin Eei Hui / Wong Pei Tty have moved to within 400 points of their compatriots and of India’s Jwala Gutta / Ashwini Ponnappa.  If the Koreans succeed in making the top 8, only one of those three pairs can qualify.

Next to women’s singles, where there was no significant movement at all this week, the least eventful category is the mixed doubles.  The top 14 have remained steady and despite the headlines in the British press, Adcock/Bankier’s position looks very secure, as they now enjoy a more than 6000-point cushion over their compatriots Nathan Robertson / Jenny Wallwork (pictured below).  Still, a title in Sydney or at the European Championships, plus another strong performance could tip the scales, but things are looking increasing dire for the Athens silver medallist.

The top pairs from Oceania and Africa, Glenn Warfe / Leanne Choo and Dorian Lance James / Michelle Edwards respectively, are both just an International Challenge title away from the top 50 so they are within striking distance of a London berth but we’ll have to wait and see.

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Badzine’s lists are not official. Only the BWF is entitled to give the names of the qualifying shuttlers. We provide it only to give fans, and players themselves, a better view of the players who could potentially qualify for the London Olympics. These lists are updated by our trio of experts amongst which a BWF-certificated umpire – and takes into account the BWF’s own qualification rules.

Please find the latest lists at the links below. They have been calculated using the world ranking points published by the BWF from May 1st, 2011 to the present. We hope to continue to provide weekly updates from now until the end of the qualification period.

The Dummy Lists for March 22nd, 2012
Men’s Singles
Women’s Singles
Men’s Doubles
Women’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles

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You will always be able to find the latest dummy lists on this page, or find it in our ‘Features’ menu at the top of any Badzine page. To see the complete current BWF world rankings, click here and you can still find the links to past dummy lists using the links below:

March 15th
March 8th
March 1st
January 19th
December 29th
(the three oldest sets of lists were compiled differently, using then-current world ranking points, thus including tournaments from before the start of the Olympic qualification period)
December 1st
November 3rd
October 6th