London: Defending champion Chen Long who will be trying to capture his third All England in four years, has been seeded first for the upcoming 2016 YONEX All England tournament that will be held from March 8 to March 13 at Barclaycard Arena, in Birmingham, England.
Further down the list, former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei who is gunning for his fourth title, was seeded second, while Olympic champion Lin Dan who is bidding to capture his sixth men’s All England singles title has been seeded fifth.
In women’s singles event, defending champion Carolina Marin of Spain has been seeded top and the 2015 runner-up Saina Nehwal of India was ranked No. 2.
Home shuttlers Chris and Gabby Adcock who won the mixed doubles title at last year’s BWF Super Series Masters Finals, have been seeded seventh. The Adcocks are looking to bring their momentum to Birmingham to become the first British pair to win the title since Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms in 2005.
Korean pair Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong were seeded first in men’s doubles, followed by Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan and Zhang Nan/Fu Haifeng in second and third. Lee Yong Dae will be looking for his third men’s doubles All England title after he won it twice in 2008 and 2012 partnering Jung Jae-sung.
China has three women’s doubles pairs already qualified for the main draw with Luo Ying and Luo Yu became the No. 1 seeds. Another Chinese women’s pair Tang Jinhua/Huang Yaqiong will start the tournament from the qualifying round.
Played annually, the All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England, is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments.
Since 1984 the tournament has been exclusively sponsored by Yonex.