Sudirman Cup draw announced

A total of 49 nations covering all five continents have entered this year’s competition – eight more than in Beijing – and the seven divisions are completed by a fascinating Group 7 clash between Iceland, Mongolia, Latvia and Luxembourg in a tournament where nations enjoy the drama and excitement of group matches and a play-off, be it promotion, relegation or simply for final ranking.

The draw, conducted by tournament referee Keith Hawthorne (England), took place at Scotland’s National Badminton Academy in Scotstoun in the presence of John Beattie, television and radio presenter, and BADMINTONscotland chief executive Anne Smillie, who is a Badminton World Federation council member and leading figure on its events committee and the head of the Sudirman Cup organising committee.

Smillie said: “There are so many good players in the teams in the top division that the fans are assured real top-quality badminton. With players like Lin Dan (China’s world champion) and Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia’s Olympic champion) on court we hope to repeat the memorable matches of 1997.

“I can’t believe there are just 32 days to go before Scotland host this great tournament for the second time. The entry of 59 in 1997 is still a record and it is something we Scots can be proud of.

“Today’s draw is the second big event to happen to Scotland in two days, following on from the submission of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games 2014 bid yesterday.

“As badminton is a key sport in the Commonwealth Games, it means the Sudirman Cup will come under the microscope straight away but I am confident BADMINTONscotland can make this a tournament to remember. We are used to staging big events even if we can’t quite manage to win them!”

In the final in Beijing two years ago China beat Indonesia 3-0 to regain the Cup they had lost to Korea in Eindhoven in 2003 – the first time the Sudirman Cup had been staged as a stand-alone event.

2005 FINAL – China 3 Indonesia 0

Mixed doubles: Zhang Jun & Gao Ling bt Nova Widianto & Lilyana Natsir 12-15 15-5 15-8; Men’s singles: Lin Dan bt Taufik Hidayat 17-15 15-9; Women’s singles: Zhang Ning bt Francisca Ratnasari Haris 11-1 11-7

The full draw is shown below. For further information contact BADMINTONscotland on 0141 445 1218.

GROUP 1A		GROUP 1B
1	*1 China**	1	*2 Denmark**
2	Malaysia	2	Korea
3	England	3	Indonesia
4	Thailand	4	Hong Kong

GROUP 2A		GROUP 2B
1	*1 Singapore**	1	*2 Japan**
2	Germany	2	Poland
3	Chinese Taipei	3	Russia
4	Sweden	4	Netherlands

GROUP 3A		GROUP 3B
1	*1 France**	1	*2Australia**
2	Scotland	2	India
3	Canada	3	USA
4	New Zealand	4	Bulgaria

GROUP 4A		GROUP 4B
1	*1 Czech Republic**	1	*2 Finland**
2	Italy	2	Spain
3	Ireland	3	Switzerland
4	Estonia	4	Portugal

GROUP 5A		GROUP 5B
1	*1 Slovenia**	1	*2 Ukraine**
2	Peru	2	Belgium
3	Slovakia	3	Wales
4	Lithuania	4	South Africa

GROUP 6		GROUP 7
1	*1 Cyprus**	1	*1 Iceland**
2	*2 Sri Lanka**	2	*2 Mongolia**
3	Turkey	3	Latvia
4	Belarus	4	Luxembourg
5	Norway