More than 300 players from over 20 Asian countries are expected to compete in this year's Badminton Asia Championships 2017 to be held in Wuhan, China from April 25-30.
And China, after its failure to make the final in the inaugural ROBOT Badminton Mixed Team Championships 2017 – TONG YUN KAI CUP in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last month and the Yonex All-England Championships in Birmingham earlier this month, will be eager to make up for the disappointments in their own backyard.
In the ROBOT Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships favourites China were beaten in the semi-finals by eventual champions Japan. Japan beat South Korea for the title.
Li Yongbo, the head coach of the Chinese National Badminton team said the team for the Badminton Asia Championships has not been decided but assured that the "best players" will be competing in Wuhan.
China are expected to use the Badminton Asia Championships to pick their team for the Sudirman Cup which will be held in Gold Coast, Australia from May 21-18. China, the defending champions, have won the Sudirman Cup 10-times and are the top seeds and favourites in Gold Coast.
It is compulsory for the top 10 Asian ranking players and pairs to play in the Asian Championships which will be played at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium and offers USD325,000 in prize money.
The events to be contested in Wuhan are the men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and the mixed doubles.
The men's and women's singles champions will pocket USD24,375 while the runners-up will get USD12,350. The beaten semi-finalists will take home USD4,712 and reaching the quarter-finals is worth USD1,950.
For the doubles events the prize money is USD25,675 for the champions with the runners-up settling for USD12,350. The semi-finals and quarter-finals is worth USD4,550 and USD2,356 respectively.
Results of last year's Finals
Men's singles
Lee Chong Wei (Mas) beat Chen Long (Chn) 21-17, 15-21, 21-13
Men's doubles
Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) beat Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn) 21-14, 28-26
Women's singles
Wang Yihan (Chn) beat Li Xuerui (Chn) 21-14, 13-21, 21-16
Women's doubles
Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn) beat Naoko Fukuman-Kurumi Yanao (Jpn) 21-13, 21-15
Mixed doubles
Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) beat Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir (Ina) 16-21, 21-9, 21-17
