Kuala Lumpur, March 19 (IANS) The Badminton World Federation (BWF) finally settled the Sudirman Cup draw placing Singapore, Netherlands, Canada and Spain in Group 2A while Hong Kong, the United States, France and Brazil have been put in Group 2B following Thursday’s redraw here.
A redraw of Group 2 was necessitated due to a discrepancy in team rankings following confirmation that points from a player ineligible for representation were included in US team rankings.
The player is under US jurisdiction but cannot represent that country as per the requirements of International Representation. On recalculation, US were ranked 16th, therefore in Group 2 and not in Group 1.
Russia became the 12th team and part of Group 1 while Russia was promoted to take US’ place in Group 1B along with Japan and Chinese Taipei.
The Sudirman Cup will take place at the Nissan Sports Center with 35 countries competing at Dongguan, China, from May 10 to 17. India had been handed a tough pool on Monday along with three-time champions South Korea and Malaysia in Group 1D.
The Sudirman Cup is the World Mixed Team Badminton Championship, held biennially. There are five matches in every round: men and women’s singles, men and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The top 12 teams in Group 1 have been split into four sub-groups who will vie for the trophy while the other teams in Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 will fight for ranking spots.
China have been the most dominant nation in Sudirman Cup, having won nine titles in 13 editions. Indonesia (once) and South Korea (thrice) are the only other nations to have lifted the trophy.
