A: China Indonesia India B: Thailand Korea Hong Kong C: Malaysia Germany Chinese Taipei D: Denmark Japan Singapore
Japan and Denmark will be tight now that Tine retired. MS -> DEN WS -> JPN MD -> DEN WD -> JPN XD -> DEN hm... maybe deciding will be MS and WD.
China will take Group A for sure. as for Group B, Thailand is not bad esp when Korea only have LHI at the singles. MS -> KOR WS -> THA MD -> KOR WD -> KOR XD -> THA
Group C is interesting. Malaysia got the best draw, but despite that, weakness in WS, WD is going to hurt MAS. hard to say who will top the group, i think will be even for Malaysia or Chinese Taipei.
INA is grouped with overwhelming fave CHN, it's an uphill task for INA to top group 1A so most likely will secure runner-up position to advance into knock-out stage. 1B : KOR, THA 1C : MAS, TPE, GER 1D : DEN, JPN It's tough to predict who will be the winner & runner-up for group 1C and D.
Sung Ji Hyun beating Ratchanok Intanon would not surprise me nearly as much as seeing Lee Hyun Il play at all in the Sudirman. He hasn't trained with the national team since August and he won't have a chance to do so until the Axiata is over. Unless Son Wan Ho is called back this week, you're looking at Lee Dong Keun to go up against Boonsak or Tanongsak.
Shon Wan Ho, unlikely... if they recall him, then who's going to launch the shuttlecock cannon across the border if N. Korea attacks?
After the Top 2 teams emerges from the Group stages, anyone knows how the QF teams are arranged to face each other. Do they draws lots again after Group stage? I am sure no teams want to meet China till the Final, so if it is already predetermined during Group stage, then some teams may want to end up runner-up to avoid China. I hope BWF is smarter now afer the Olympic blunder.
There is a group of death according to Li Yongbo, it's Group A. That shows how much he respects INA and IND. He regards INA's strengths as in their MS, XD, and MD. As for IND, he singles out WS Saina, their WD and XD, and also says even their MS poses a certain threat. He thinks Grp B will also be hotly contested. THA has MS Boonsak, WS Intanon, XD, and their Olympic MD (he's probably unaware they have split) are not to be underestimated at all. KOR he considered a traditional strong team, so CHN cannot afford to be optimistic whoever they meet. In Grp C, he feels that MAS will find it tough to beat Chinese Taipei. GER only has Juliane Schenk but Chinese Taipei has Tai TY in WS, and their MS, MD, WD,XD are all relatively strong and should emerge top in the group. As for Grp D, he is of the opinion that JAP in recent years has been progressing the most steadily. Other than SIN which is generally regarded as the weakest team, he believes every other team has a certain advantage or superiority in one or other individual disciplines. Looks like he isn't too confident of CHN's chances, if you believe his words. Finally, he commented this year's Sudirman Cup will very exciting to watch and acknowledged the general standard has risen. http://sports.qq.com/a/20130328/000523.htm
Tough draw for upcoming badminton nation India is concerned. Still india do not have good MD, XD,WD categories. So, i think there is a huge chance for China and indonesia to move further. Though indonesia's WS is slightly weaker than india's. I don't think india's other categories can overtake them. If it does, then it would be because of their training .. Unfortunate draw..
Maybe they aren't ranked high enough? We have SERIOUS problems here in the UK. The BWF are trying to solve it by going in to schools but it will be a long wait. Players simply don't make enough money playing so are lost to other sports or retire.
good question. initially i thought, "they must be in group 2". but group 2 has: Russia Netherlands France USA Sweden Canada Scotland Austria group 3 has: Ukraine Switzerland Vietnam New Zealand Turkey Australia Sri Lanka Lithuania Group 4 has: South Africa Philippines Kazakhstan. England is no where to be found!