Kuala Lumpur: Given a favorable draw at the 2017 Sudirman Cup Badminton Championship that was announced on Friday, Malaysia could go deep and contend for the title at this year’s Sudirman Cup competition that will be held in Gold Coast, Australia on May 21-28.
Malaysia team was drawn into Group 1C together with the Japan and England. Technical director of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Morten Frost Hansen admitted his team has high chance of making the quarter-finals.
“Although Japan is strong in women’s singles and women’s doubles, we have better chances in men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles,” said Frost.
The defending champions, China who had won almost all Sudirman Cup title, except in 1989, 1991, 1993, and 2003, were drawn into Group 1A with Thailand and Hong Kong.
Group 1B will have South Korea, Taiwan and Russia, while last year’s Thomas Cup champions, Denmark were drawn in Group 1D together with Indonesia and India.
Since four teams – Mexico, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden have pulled out from the tournament within last few days, the original list of 32 teams for this year’s Sudirman Cup was pared down to 28, and these teams were divided into three groups.
Group 1 consists of 12 teams that will compete for the title while teams in Group 2 and Group 3 will play for the overall rankings.
