Sydney: Some of the badminton’s big names including World No. 7 Jonatan Christie, World No. 8 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, and World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth have decided to give the 2022 Australian Open a miss.
These withdrawals mean the No. 1 seed Lee Zii Jia has a strong chance to finish top at the Australian Open podium.
After skipping the Hylo Open citing a personal reason, Lee who also eyeing a spot at the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou (December 14 to December 18, 2022), needed to at least advance to the semi-finals in Sydney to collect enough ranking points for the No. 8 position of the Finals. China’s Lu Guangzu is currently occupying the No. 8 spot in the BWF World Tour Finals rankings. Lee will open against a qualifier and could face Lu Guangzu in the second round.
Meanwhile, at the bottom half of the draw, the No. 2 seed Loh Kean Yew who just won Singapore’s Sportsman of the Year award last week, will open against unseeded Mithun Manjunath of India. He could potentially face Shi Yuqi of China in the quarter-finals.
In women’s singles, World No. 2 An Se Young who was rumored to be suspended by Badminton Korea Association (BKA) after the association didn’t register her for the 2022 Denmark Open and French Open, was seeded No. 1 in the women’s singles category and has been seen practicing in Sydney.
The Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles gold medalist – Wang Chi-lin who has not competed in any tournaments since the 2022 Japan Open, will be reunited with his partner, Lee Yang at the Australian Open.
In addition to Lee/Wang, Malaysia’s World No. 8 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi are also a favorite men’s pair to win the Australian Open. They are set to play Adam Jeffrey/Dylan Soedjasa of New Zealand in the first round.
The Australian Open is the last World Tour event that offers ranking points before the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
