It is all systems go for the inaugural Robot Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships.
It has been a hive activities over the last few days in this booming city of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam as teams started arriving for the championships from Feb 14-19.
The tournament will be played at Nguyen Du Cultural Sport Club, 116 Nguyen Du Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
A total of 13 teams will vie for honours and engrave their name on the impressive gold plated silverware. Badminton powerhouse China are the top seeds and favourites for the title. South Korea are seeded second with Japan third and Malaysia seeded fourth.
The teams have been placed in four groups with the top two teams from their respective groups advancing to the knockout stage.
Group A is made of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong while Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka make up Group B. Group C – the only group with four teams – has Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Korea, India and Singapore are placed in Group D.
The fact that the tournament begins on Valentine's Day – a much celebrated event in Vietnam – there is added excitement to the tournament.
All teams arriving at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport were met by a delegation from Badminton Asia and the organizing committee with flowers and souvenirs for the team officials and players.
Most of the countries have brought their up and coming badminton talent to give their players the "exposure and international experience" to build strong teams for the future.
"The response to this inaugural championships has been overwhelming and this speaks volumes of our efforts to keep Asia's supremacy in the shuttle sport," said Badminton Asia's Chief Operating Officer Kenny Goh.
"Badminton Asia have also embarked on a massive drive to bring the game to every country in the continent. We are on the right track and we hope to see other Asian countries competing in this event in the coming future."
GROUPINGS
GROUP A
China
Taiwan
Hong Kong
GROUP B
Malaysia
Indonesia
Sri Lanka
GROUP C
Japan
Thailand
Vietnam
Philippines
GROUP D
Korea
India
Singapore
In the opening matches on Feb 14 China face Hong Kong and Malaysia take on Sri Lanka (13 hours) while Thailand will meet hosts Vietnam, Korea meet Singapore and Japan will be up against Philippines at 19 hours.
