The KhiladiX.com Dubai 2023 Badminton Asia Championship Powered by Floki is rolling out soon. The event will be held from 25-30 April 2023 at the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Most of the players that are participating are the world's top badminton players. Almost all of the top 10 in the world in all numbers, from men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles are participating in this year’s tournament.
In men's singles, out of the top 10 in the world, nine badminton players are participating. Only Viktor Axelsen is absent because he is from Denmark. Whereas, the world’s number 2 to 10 are participating. Starting from Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting, who ranked second and third from Indonesia when the draw was held. Then, the world's fourth-ranked third seed is Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia. Followed by Kodai Naroka from Japan, Chou Tien Chen from Taiwan, Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand, Loh Kean Yew from Singapore, Prannoy H.S. from India and Shi Yu Qi from China.
Interestingly, in the first round, Jonathan Christie, also known as Jojo, will immediately face Shi Yu Qi. By record, Jojo leads 6-4. But looking at the last performances of the two badminton players, Shi Yu Qi has the upper hand because he is a finalist in the prestigious All England 2023 tournament. Meanwhile, Jojo was immediately defeated in the first round by Weng Hong Yang, a Chinese badminton player whose ranking is still below Shi Yu Qi.
The top-ranking players are also participating in the women's singles. From the world's top 10 rankings, only one did not participate, namely sixth place Carolina Marin because she comes from Spain. Besides her, everyone else is participating. The top two seeded positions are currently occupied by two sworn rivals, Akane Yamaguchi and Japan and An Se-young from Korea. Then the third seed, which could become a challenge for the top two seeds, is Chen Yu Fei from China. Below Yu Fei is her compatriot, Wang Zhi Yi, Rachanok Intanon from Thailand, and an Indian badminton player Pusarla V. Sindhu.
However, The Spain Masters 2023 champion from Indonesia, Gregoria Mariska, is not seeded. Nevertheless, looking at recent appearances in Europe, the 2017 Junior World Champion could pose a threat to the seeds.
In the men's doubles, according to the BWF ranking, Asian pairs dominate the top eight. In first place is the 2023 All-England champion from Indonesia Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the top position. Following them are the bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Aaron Chia/Soh Woo Yik from Malaysia and Indonesia's senior doubles Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan who are seeded in third place. In fourth place are Japanese doubles Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi and in fifth place are Chinese representatives who are quite dangerous Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuanyi. Their compatriots, Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, are seeded in seventh place. While the Indian pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, who played a major role in bringing their country to win the 2022 Thomas Cup, are in place as the sixth seed. The eighth seed is Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin/Seo Ee Yi from Malaysia.
In the women's doubles, three countries, China, South Korea, and Japan put two pairs each on the seed list. Even the top three are occupied by different countries. Chinese doubles Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan won first place. Then the Japanese doubles Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida under the Chinese doubles and above the Korean pairs. The Indonesian pair Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti is placed as the fourth seed. During the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Apriyani came out as the champion. Only, at that time, she was paired with Greysia Polii who had decided to retire. Jeong Na-eun/Kim Hye-jeong from Korea became the sixth seeds. Followed by Japanese doubles Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota in seventh seed and Malaysian doubles Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan called for competition by being seeded eighth.
In the mixed doubles there was a shift in seed with second place. The Chinese doubles Wang Li Lyu/Huang Dong Ping, who are gold medalists at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, are not going to participate as a pair. Right now, for the upcoming tournament, Huang Dong Ping is paired with Feng Yan Zhe. The pair Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping is also in the top 10 in the world, ranked seventh to be exact, and is going to compete at next week’s tournament.
The absence of the two pairs made the Korean pair, Kim Won-ho/Jeong Na-eun, the seventh seed. Also, Malaysian doubles Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie. At the top of the list of seeded mixed doubles are Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong. In third seed, Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Seo Seung-jae/Chae Yoo-jung are seeded fourth. Malaysia again placed their doubles on the seeded list through Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing in fifth place. Unfortunately, The Japanese pair Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino from Japan who are seeded second withdrew due to injuries.
It looks like in the KhiladiX.com Dubai 2023 Badminton Asia Championships Powered by Floki we will feel the heat right from the start.
