Badminton Asia Championships 2023 (25-30 April)

DRAW: https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=ef5de126-c8e6-4b61-b575-9a3e41b50f83

Tournament time-table

2022 WINNERS: https://bwfbadminton.com/tournament/4591/badminton-asia-championships-2022

MS – Lee Zii Jia (MAS)
WS – Wang Zhi Yi (CHN)
MD – Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan (INA)
WD – Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan (CHN)
XD – Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (CHN)

Dubai is back to hosting another top-tier tournament since last Super Series Finals in 2017. Badminton Asia got their game together after rumors that BAC would get cancelled. This is the last major tournament before Olympic Qualification period starts with Sudirman Cup in May with big points up for grabs as this is on the level of a Super 1000 tournament.

Tough draw for top seed Christie who faces Shi YQ in opening round; same goes for Loh KY and Lakshya Sen. Will be interesting to see whether young guns Naraoka and Vitidsarn have recovered since going the distance in tournaments at the start of the year and getting injured along the way. Defending champion Lee ZJ has tough path to the final with Ng KL in R1, Tsuneyama in R2 and potentially Prannoy in QF. Momota stranded in reserve list this year but may still get the chance to play if anyone withdraws and he goes to Dubai.

World #1 Yamaguchi and defending champion Wang ZY again slated to meet in same quarter of draw or sooner for the seventh tournament since their unexpected final clash in May of last year. Either BWF drawing system must be nuts or they’re just so unlucky. Overall, no wild early clashes until QFs where all seeded players in WS usually make it. Will be interesting to see if top 4 seeds continue to assert dominance in this tournament.

Defending champion Kusumawardana/Rambitan not able to qualify in this tournament since still on the comeback trail since their injury last year in Indonesia after winning BAC. Gideon/Sukamuljo also not able to qualify in this tournament with other INA MD being higher ranked.

Tough opening round encounter for Matsuyama/Shida as they face All England runners-up Baek HN/Lee SH. Their former partners Lee YL/Shin SC also able to qualify here after competing in ICs during European leg of tour in March, with a potential R2 encounter with last year’s semifinalists Fukushima/Hirota who have questionable fitness as they had to withdraw from Swiss Open final a few weeks ago.

Watanabe/Higashino withdraws from the tournament as they haven’t recovered from All England injury, most likely will feature in Sudirman Cup next. Last year’s semifinalists Jordan/Oktavianti is on comeback trail (had to retire against ZSW/HYQ last year) and may meet them again in quarters if they’re able to play themselves back into form. As usual, all eyes on Zheng SW/Huang YQ and whether anyone can beat them.

Result/Daily Schedule/LiveScore : https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/EF5DE126-C8E6-4B61-B575-9A3E41B50F83/matches