India was drawn with Commonwealth Games champions Malaysia, hosts UAE and Kazakhstan in Championship Group B 2023 Asian Mixed Badminton Team Championships, which will be held at the Dubai Exhibition Center in the United Arab Emirates from February 14 to 19.
India and Malaysia last met in the 2022 Commonwealth Games Mixed Team Final, which Malaysia won 3-1.
The draws for the third edition of the Asian Badminton Team Championships were held at the Dubai Sports Council in the presence of the two-time Olympic medalist from India PV Sindhuwho will host India’s women’s singles challenge at the upcoming championships.
17 countries will compete for the title in the Asian Badminton Mixed Team Championships. The teams have been divided into four groups (AD), and the top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals.
The defending champions of China are in Group A and the 2017 Japanese champions in Group D. The 2021 edition of the biennial tournament has been canceled due to COVID-19. China and Japan are also the top two seeds in the 2023 edition.
Heavyweights Indonesia ranks third in five-team Group C, while India’s Group B rival Malaysia ranks fourth.
A “tie” consists of five matches – women’s singles, men’s singles, mixed doubles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles. The first team to win three games wins the tie.
One sec PV Sindhu will lead India in women’s singles, heroes of the Thomas Cup HS Prannoy AND Laksa Sen they are expected to headline India’s men’s singles challenge.
In men’s doubles, it remains to be seen whether Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will recover from a groin injury ahead of the tournament. The Indian badminton player and his partner Chirag Shetty are currently ranked 5th in the badminton world rankings and enjoyed a successful BWF season last year.
CWG 2022 bronze medalists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will compete in the women’s doubles, while Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Castro will be India’s only representatives in the mixed doubles.
The Indian mixed badminton team failed to progress beyond the group stage in 2019 and were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the first edition of the 2017 Asian Mixed Team Championship.
2023 Asian Badminton Team Championship Draw: All Groups
group A: China, South Korea, Singapore, Uzbekistan
Group B: Malaysia, India, UAE, Kazakhstan
Group C: Indonesia, Thailand, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon
Group D: Japan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Pakistan
