Beijing: Badminton powerhouse China has named its 20 players squad for the upcoming 2019 Sudirman Cup championships that will take place in Nanning, China from May 19, 2019 to May 26, 2019.
China’s two-time Olympic men’s singles champion Lin Dan and the London Olympic women’s singles champion Li Xuerui have both been excluded from the team. Instead, China has called-up several young and first-timers such as 22-year-old Lu Guangzu (men’s singles) and 19-year-old Han Yue (women’s singles) for the mixed team tournament.
The Rio Olympic champion Chen Long and current World No. 2 men’s singles player Shi Yuqi will lead the Chinese team alongside two other top women’s singles players such as Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao.
World No. 3 Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen will spearhead the men’s doubles department together with Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong, who will also make their Sudirman Cup debut. Meanwhile, He Jiting, who is ranked World No. 12 in men’s doubles with Tan Qiang and World No. 8 with Du Yue in mixed doubles, was also being listed for the Chinese Sudirman Cup team for the first time.
Two women’s doubles pairs are Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan and Du Yue/Li Yinhui. Zheng Yu also made the Chinese Sudirman Cup for the first time.
China will feature World No. 1 and World No. 2 pairs in mixed doubles, including Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang YiLv/Huang Dongping.
Other notable omission was former mixed doubles and men’s doubles Olympic champion, 29-year-old Zhang Nan.
Below is China’s Sudirman Cup squad:
Men’s singles: Chen long, Shi Yuqi, Lu Guangzu
Women’s singles: Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, Han Yue
Men’s doubles: Li Junhui, Liu Yuchen, He Jiting, Han Chengkai, Zhou Haodong, Zheng Siwei, Wang Yilyu
Women’s doubles: Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan, Du Yue, Li Yinhui, Zheng Yu, Huang Dongping, Huang Yaqiong
