Bangkok: This 2022 BWF World Tour Finals are without question one of the most widely anticipated tournaments of the year.
The draw for the Finals was held at the Centara Grand in Bangkok on Monday, and World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen has been handed a relatively good draw. The Dane was drawn into men’s singles Group A together with HS Prannoy of India, Kodai Naraoka of Japan, and Lu Guangzu of China.
However, Singapore’s World No. 3 Loh Kean Kew was given a tough draw as he was drawn in a group comprising World No. 4 Chou Tien-Chen, World No. 5 Jonatan Christie, and World No. 7 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting from Indonesia.
In the men’s doubles draw, both Group A and Group B were equally tough. Malaysia’s World No. 8 Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi were grouped in Group A with World No. 3 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, World No. 1 Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi and World No. 15 Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho. The reigning World Champions – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik will open against World No. 6 Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan in Group B on Wednesday while Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen will meet Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi in their first Group B match.
Akane Yamaguchi, Chen Yufei, and Tai Tzu Ying, He Bingjiao are the favorites to progress to the semi-finals from the women’s singles Group A and Group B respectively. Group A also comprised of An Se Young, and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung while two Thai players – Ratchanok Intanon and Busanan Ongbamrungphan could also spring a surprise in Group B especially when they are having the home-court advantage.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s 2022 French Open women’s doubles champions – Pearly Tan/Muralitharan Thinaah, faced a challenging path when they were drawn into the ‘group of death’ in Group B with two Chinese pairs, three-time world champions Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan, the world number seven pair, Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu, and the Hanoi SEA Games gold medalist, Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti from Indonesia.
“The vote is pretty tough for Pearly/Thinaah, but I hope that with their recent performance, they can compete with the three best pairs in the world in their group,” said the doubles coaching director from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Rexy Mainaky.
In mixed doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 8 Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing meet the Tokyo Olympic gold medalists – Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping in Group B on Wednesday, while World No. 11 Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai will battle World No. 13 Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari in the opening day.
