Report and Photo by Raphael Sachetat,

A few days before the kick-off of the long awaited Sudirman Cup, the various groups will see some impressive battles to try to either gain promotion to a higher group for the 2007 event, or even the trophy, won by Korea in 2003 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Here are some hints on what could happen next week in Beijing…

Group 1

In the Group A, the group of death, it will certainly be a lucky person who can bet for sure on the winning horse.  Because if Korea is the titleholder, Denmark, England and Thailand have enough in their artilleries to make the Koreans scared.  On paper, the Koreans are perhaps less strong than in 2003 when they grabbed gold to everyone’s surprise – there were hardly any Korean reporters in Eindhoven to cover the event as the whole country thought China would get away with an easy victory.  Yet the Korean team spirit made the difference.

This time, Korea has a much younger group of players, less experienced even if some have shown impressive skills, particularly in the double events.  The good news for the Koreans is the fact that the officials have finally convinced Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min to get back on court once more for the country’s sake in the event.  The famous duo have not competed in international level ever since the Olympics, some nine months ago, and nobody knows exactly what type of shape they are in.

They can still be very dangerous and mostly, will be a strong psychological back-up for their younger partners.  The bad news is that the single events is no longer an easy task with Jun Jae Youn who is out of the picture after her injury in Switzerland, and both Lee Hyun Il and Shon Seung Mo yet to prove their worth again as they both had almost no notable results for some months now.

Denmark could then be the main challenger for the Koreans in this group. They will rely on a very strong contingent of men’s singles (Gade and Jonassen are on top of their games) as well as two strong men’s doubles and newcomers in the mixed, Juhl and Laybourn, who will be strong back up for Eriksen and Schjoldager.  These three combinations could already give the edge to the Europeans, who will be eager to top the group in order to avoid China in the semi-final. The bad news for the Scandinavians is that Rikke Olsen has sustained an injury which could prevent her from competing in Beijing.

England on their side will be banking on their mixed and men’s doubles, even if the late withdrawal of Simon Archer will make it a bit harder.  Thailand, on their side, could also bring some surprises, and will be eager to prove that their recent entry in the top group without participating in the last edition is logical.  Boonsak, and two doubles could make it to get one of the two qualifying spots in the group.

On the other side of the Group 1, in sub-group B, China and Indonesia are the clear favourites, yet Hong Kong could be a strong outsider with their strong leader, Wang Chen, who could lead the way to a surprising qualification.  Indonesia will try to cope with the many injuries which have struck their players lately, especially in the men’s singles event. Yet one knows how strong the Indonesians can be in team events, as they had even come to beat China on their home ground in the 2002 Thomas Cup. However, with the lack of form of some players, even the top Indonesian officials have recently announced that they would have to be satisfied with a semi-final berth. The Chinese on their side, have narrowed down the list of players who will be playing, but even the reserve team could be good enough to top this group, with names such as Xia, Gong, Zhou, appearing in the back up squad… The Chinese shuttlers have already started training in the stadium to get adjusted to the conditions, and apart from some complaints of strong lighting, things seems to be ready for a showdown.  They even called back Tang Xianhu, the former coach from men’s doubles who had retired to go back to his Fujian province after the Olympics.  A sign that the Chinese will put all the chances on their side to top the group, and of course, to win the title back

A team with Lin, Xie, Cai/Fu, Yang/Zhang and Zhang/Gao looks clearly unbeatable on paper. Yet, theory and reality can be quite different, especially when there is such a tremendous amount of pressure on the local players, a pressure that had been difficult to handle in 2002 in the Thomas Cup at home, and in the Olympics for some of the Chinese wonders. But China still looks as the clear favourite of the event, on home soil.

As it appears, however, the odds would give a semi-final between China and Denmark on one side and Indonesia and Korea on the other side.  Logically, Sweden and England could be fighting to stay in the top group which has been recently widened to eight teams instead of six previously.

Group 2

In the second group, Malaysia has already made known that they would not be satisfied with any other result than a direct promotion to the top group, as they consider themselves as the only top badminton country not to be in the top group.  And with recent results, they can be sure to get a good chance at making it to the elite group for next edition.  Lee Chong Wei has been performing well lately with a home success in Kedah in front of Wong Choong Hann, who will be taken as a back up doubles player as well.

The key to the success could rely on the hands of the ladies, who have shown potential in the past but with a lack of results recently, which doesn’t bother chief coach Kim Hock: “We are aiming for Division One.  Our women have improved a lot and this is the best chance to move up.  We have got a good women’s singles player in Wong Mew Choo and our doubles pair of Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui are very consistent now, while Pei Tty has also struck up a quality combination with Koo Kien Keat in the mixed doubles and we can now fight for all the five points,” the Malaysian coach told the New Straits Times..

They will have to watch out for Chinese Taipei in this first group round robin system, and possibly the Netherlands if Palyama, Yao or Audina and a potential women’s doubles thanks to Meulendijks’s comeback can make the difference for the three necessary points.  On the other side, Germany, Japan and Singapore seem to have equal chances to make it to the top with a slighter advantage for Japan whose team looks to be more homogenous than others, with Singapore mainly banking on Susilo and their mixed and women’s doubles to get the points.  Susilo has just been named the Sportsman player of the year in Singapore, while the whole country was mourning the loss of their former President Mr Wee Kim Wee, who was also a great badminton player. These are two good reason of extra motivation for the Singaporeans to get a ticket to the elite group for the 2007 edition in Scotland.

Talking of which, the Scots will have at heart to play well in China as they will be the hosts of the 2007 edition, even if their Group 3 seems a bit tricky for them, although one of the main contestant on paper, India, have seen two big setbacks with the non participation of former ace Gopichand and also more recently, when Aparna Popat withdrew due to health problems.  USA might have their word to say with former legend Tony Gunawan, while Wales will try to cope with Vaughan’s out of form shape due to a mystery virus and without former Commonwealth Champion Kelly Morgan, who is expecting a baby and hence not flying to China.

In the other sub group, it will be a tough fight between three European teams – Poland, Finland and Bulgaria and New Zealand – with a final battle most likely to be help between Poland and the Kiwis.

Group 4

France is the favourite to advance to group 3 for the next outing, with Pi Hongyan playing for the first time in this competition, even if the recent operation to Stoyanov could jeopardize the points possibly won in men’s doubles and mixed, with the challenge now belonging to the younger generation.  Their toughest opponents are likely to be Australia in their subgroup especially in the doubles events, which could still go all three to the Oceanians.  In the other sub group, Norway could get the best out of Switzerland, Estonia and Kazaksthan, but the recent Swiss European Junior vice champ Cicognini could lead her teammates to a possible surprise.

Group 5

If one team would get the prize for being the most motivated, Lithuania would probably be in contention, with players who never let their hopes down, even when they had to drive over three days to get to a satellite tournament.  This time, in Beijing, they flew in and could get a shot at topping the group where they are to meet Israel and Turkey.  They will rely on their homogeneity and their player Ugne Urbonaite who now plays for a French club. In the other sub group, Italy’s most experienced player Allegrini will try to share her knowledge of high level competition to beat Cyprus and Luxembourg.

Group 6

In group 6, Jamaica should have absolutely no difficulty to win the challenge of topping the last group, even if Mongolia has had some inspiring training lately thanks to a close partnership with Japan.  After Armenia withdrew from the event, the only other team in the group is Sri Lanka which should pose no real threat to Charles Pyne or Nigella Saunders, who are used to top level competition thanks to their long periods of time spent training in Europe.