On Saturday, the draw for the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2023, one of the most prestigious badminton tournaments in the world, was announced. Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre, located in the city of Suzhou, China, will host the 18th edition of the event from May 14 to May 21. The draw included 16 teams that were divided into four groups with four teams each.
India has been drawn in group C alongside a formidable outfit of Malaysia, as well as Chinese Taipei and Australia after they qualified for the tournament with a bronze medal finish in Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships last month. The hosts and defending champions China are in Group A, while the 4-time champions South Korea are in Group D.
Sudirman Cup is a Grade 1 Team Tournament on the BWF calendar involving five matches in a single tie, which includes men’s singles, women's singles, men’s doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. Some of the players expected to play for Team India in the latest edition of the tournament include PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen in singles, while the pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty along with Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly in doubles.
Over the years, India has reached the quarter-finals stage of the Sudirman Cup twice. It happened for the first time in 2011 and then repeated in 2017, both times the team was eliminated by China.
Following is the list of teams playing in the 2023 tournament as per the group d raw:
Group A: China, Denmark, Singapore, and Egypt
Group B: Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, and Canada
Group C: Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, India, and Australia
Group D: Japan, South Korea, France, and England