Of seeds and ranking

[venkatesh]

again, forgive me for my ignorance, but what does "seeds" in badminton mean?
and if you watch a game on tv, they usually show a number enclosed in parentheses beside the players name. Sometimes, it's preceded with an astersik. Is this the world ranking?

[Shifty]

their rank and expected result in the tournament based on their ranking points

[treilanin]

Seeds and World Rankings are not the same thing. Seed values are separate and unique to each time a tournament is run and are based on a variety of factors like which players are attending, player's current world rankings and players history at the tournament. So the #1 seed is not always the #1 world ranked player/team.

[Shifty]

Seeds and World Rankings are not the same thing. Seed values are separate and unique to each time a tournament is run and are based on a variety of factors like which players are attending, player's current world rankings and players history at the tournament. So the #1 seed is not always the #1 world ranked player/team.

seeds are based on world ranking, at least in all the higher tournaments. i don't think it's unique because of player history etc. it's unique because in a year, world rankings shift a lot. for example, in 06 malaysian open, lin dan was seeded one although, by previous results, he hasn't done well.

no, the #1 seed does not always have to be #1 in the world. if the #1 skips the event, the #2 in the world would become #1 seed.

i think there's a slightly different set of rules for doubles though. it's more on the expected result than ranking points. e.g. the new Koo/Tan partnership was given a seeding of 5/8 in 2007 All England. they were far too low in terms of ranking points to be ranked 5/8 from points. but i think that is an exception. unless there is a new, awesome pair like them, even in doubles, ranking is done mainly on points.