India have been drawn with Commonwealth Games champions Malaysia, hosts UAE and Kazakhstan in the Group B of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023
India have been drawn with Commonwealth Games champions Malaysia, hosts UAE and Kazakhstan in the Group B of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023, which will be held at Dubai Exhibition Centre, UAE, from February 14 to 19.
India and Malaysia last met in the Commonwealth Games 2022 mixed team final which was won by Malaysia 3-1.
The draws for the third edition of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships were held at the Dubai Sports Council in presence of India’s two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who will lead India’s challenge in women’s singles at the upcoming championships.
The Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships will see 17 countries compete for the title. The teams have been divided into four groups (A-D) and the top two teams from each group will progress to the quarter-finals.
Defending champions China are in Group A while 2017 champions Japan are in Group D. The 2021 edition of the biennial tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19. China and Japan are also the top two seeds in the 2023 edition.
Heavyweights Indonesia, in the five-team Group C, are seeded third while India’s Group B rivals Malaysia are seeded fourth.
A ‘tie’ will consist of five matches – women’s singles, men’s singles, mixed doubles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles. The first team to win three matches wins the tie.
While PV Sindhu will lead India in women’s singles, Thomas Cup heroes HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen are expected to spearhead India’s challenge in men’s singles.
In men’s doubles, it remains to be seen if Satwiksairaj Rankireddy recovers from a groin injury ahead of the tournament. The Indian badminton player and his partner Chirag Shetty are currently No. 5 in the badminton world rankings and enjoyed a successful BWF season last year.
CWG 2022 bronze medallists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will compete in the women’s doubles while Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Castro will be India’s only entry in mixed doubles.
The Indian badminton mixed team failed to get past the group stage in 2019 and was knocked out in the quarter-finals in the first edition of the Asian Mixed Team Championships in 2017.
Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023 draw: All groups
Group A: China, South Korea, Singapore, Uzbekistan
Group B: Malaysia, India, UAE, Kazakhstan
Group C: Indonesia, Thailand, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon
Group D: Japan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Pakistan
