The Sudirman Cup will start from Sunday, May 14, 2023. In this Mixed Team Badminton competition, the best shuttlers in the world will compete as a team for their respective nations.
The 18th edition of the Sudirman Cup took place in Suzhou from the 14th of May to the 21st of May. The Sudirman Cup is a biennial international badminton championship contested by the mixed national teams of the member associations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament was started way back in 1989. China is the most successful team in this competition having won the championship for a record 12 times.
The selection format for the tournament is based on a qualification method where sixteen teams will be selected to play in the final tournament. The host and the defending champion will qualify automatically for the final round of the tournament. As China is both the host team and the defending champion, an extra slot from the world ranking is opened. For other slots in the championship continental qualifying tournaments were held. There were 4 slots from Asia and Europe and 1 from Africa, Oceania and Pan America. The remaining slots were determined via team rankings.
The Sudirman Cup was originally scheduled in Suzhou in 2021. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament was shifted to Vantaa, Finland. Later on, it was decided that the championship will be held in India. However, in July 2021, it was announced that Suzhou which was the original host for the 2021 edition, will host this edition instead. India accepted the offer and traded the 2026 BWF World Championships in exchange. A total of 16 teams will be participating in the tournament. They are divided into four groups of four teams each. China and Japan are the top two-seeded countries in this edition.
Sudirman Cup can be watched LIVE on BWF TV’s Official YouTube Channel. The Sudirman Cup can be watched on the Olympic channel as well via the olympics.com. People abroad can also watch it on the official BWF YouTube Page.
· Group A: China, Denmark, Singapore, Egypt
· Group B: Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, Canada
· Group C: Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, India, Australia
· Group D: Japan, South Korea, France, England
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Group A was dominated by China as it won all the games that it played. Coming in second place is the Danish team. From Group B, Thailand and Indonesia advanced to the next round of the tournament. In Group C, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei advanced to the next round of the tournaments. While from the last group, i.e. Group D South Korea and Japan qualified for the semifinals.
The draw was held on 18 May 2023, after the last group tie. The group runners-up were against the group winners. Additionally, one more rule was followed for the groupings that teams from the same group couldn’t be drawn against each other. The final fixtures of the semifinals were decided like this:
All the matches of the semi-finals were held on 19th May 2023. From the first fixture, China came out victorious and thrashed Indonesia 3-0. In the second fixture, Japan came out triumphantly in a close-fought match by winning the set 3-2. In the last two fixtures, Malaysia won the fixtures identically 3-1. The final fixtures of the semi-finals that will be held on 20th May 2023 are like this:
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