USA to send a record seven badminton players to Rio Olympics

USA: A record of seven shuttlers from USA have made it to the Rio Olympics based on Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) final allocation in all five disciplines

In men's singles, World No. 64 Howard Shu, who is at 32nd place in race to Rio qualification, will carry the USA flag, while Phillip Chew and Jamie Subandhi become the first USA mixed doubles pair to qualify for the Olympics.

Eva Lee, who had represented USA at the London Games, will play her second Olympics in women's doubles competition with Paula Lynn Obanana, they are 16th in the race to Rio qualification.
In the women’s singles, Iris Wang will be making her Olympic debut in Rio while Sattawat Pongnairat and Phillip Chew will compete in the men's doubles event.
No USA player has never made it past quarterfinals in the badminton event at any Olympics.

ivan sozonov injured

China fill maximum slots for the 2016 Olympic

After winning two out of five gold medals offered at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) on Sunday, China has enough or in some categories, more than enough shuttlers to secure the maximum Olympic quota slots allocated for each country

Unlike the previous Olympics, in the 2016 Rio Games, each nation could only enter a maximum of two players in the men's and women's singles events, if both players are ranked in the world's top 16. Otherwise, those positions would be filled until the roster of thirty-eight players has been completed.

In the doubles category, each country could only enter a maximum of two pairs if both are ranked in the top eight, while the remaining countries are entitled to one until the quota of 16 highest-ranked pairs is filled.
Technically, China has 4 players that could qualify for the men's singles event in Rio, with Chen Long being the World No. 1, followed by Lin Dan at World No. 3, Tian Houwei and Wang Zhengming at World No. 6 and World No. 13 respectively. However, it's obvious that only Chen Long and Lin Dan would be selected to play in Rio.
Nevertheless, it's going to be a tough call for women's singles, with up to 5 shuttlers ranked in the World top 16. As rumors swirl, World No. 5 Wang Shixian could be dropped from the Chinese Olympic team yet again in favor of World No. 6 Wang Yihan who just won the BAC title on Sunday.
Chinese Chief coach Li Yongbo had replaced Wang Shixian once with young shuttler Li Xuerui in the 2012 London Olympic squad, and he may do it again after his decision proved correct when Li won the London Olympics gold medal.
"I have yet to decide who would go to Rio, I am going to take their world rankings, their ability to play against foreign players, and their performances in the last several tournaments into my consideration," said Li Yongbo.
It's much easier to decide outright who would go to Rio in men's doubles because the current World No. 4 Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan and World No. 5 pair Chai Biao/Hong Wei are the only options for China.
Former World No. 1 and current World No. 7 pair Luo Ying/Luo Yu sisters may be dropped from the Chinese Olympic team as World No. 3 Tang Yuanting/Yu Yang and World No. 4 Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei are viewed as the pairs are most likely to win the women’s doubles gold medals at the Rio Olympics.
China also has some difficult roster decisions to make in the mixed doubles before Olympic, when it has to pick two out of three pairs between World No. 1 Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei, World No. 4 Xu Chen/Ma Jin, and World No. 6 Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin.
"We have succeeded to get the maximum berth in each categories for the Rio Olympics, and I really appreciate our players' hard works," said Li.
Although China is the only country in the world to successfully fill the maximum positions allocated to each country, Chinese players are overall weaker than they were four years ago at the London Olympics, and gold medals in every categories are up for grabs.

Kento Momota, Kenichi Tago officially removed from BWF rankings

Although Japanese young badminton star Kento Momota who has been denied a spot on Japan’s team for this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics after receiving an indefinite suspension from the Nippon Badminton Association on April 10, 2016 for his visit to an illegal casino, but he hadn’t officially been removed from the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Ranking, until this Thursday.

Both Kento Momota and Kenichi Tago, 26, have admitted to gambling at casinos in Japan, and were officially removed from the latest BWF standings released by BWF as of April 28th.

The removal followed confirmation by the Nippon Badminton Association (NBA) that both players have been suspended for more than a year. NBA had also clarified that instead of suspending both players "indefinitely", the suspension will probably "exceed a year".
According to what BWF Council agreed two years ago, players who were suspended for more than a year would be removed from all rankings.
Besides Momota and Tago, BWF also removed an USA shuttler Zhang Beiwen and Australian player Setyana Mapasa from its Olympic Qualification Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, due to their ineligibility to represent their respective adopted countries.
Zhang Beiwen was born in China but moved to Singapore at the age of 13 in the year 2003. She played with the Singapore National Team until 2012. In 2013, she moved to the USA with her parents.
As for Setyana Mapasa, she went to Australia to seek medical treatment for her knee injury in 2012. Since then, she has since been partnering with Gronya Somerville to become one of the top women's doubles pair in Australia.
Fortunately, these two players still get to maintain their positions on the BWF World Rankings.
In the absence of Kento Momota, the next highest ranked Japanese player - Sho Sasaki was selected to replace Momota in Rio.

Lee Chong Wei beats Chen Long to win BAC title

Malaysian badminton maestro Lee Chong Wei celebrated his fourth consecutive victories against World No. 1 Chen Long of China by beating the Chinese shuttler in the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) final to regain his second BAC title in Wuhan, China on Sunday.
In the enthralling first set, Lee who won the BAC title in 2006, put on a furious fightback after trailing 11-15 to overtake Chen Long and wrapped up the set 21-17.

Chen Long started the second set more aggressively, and was able to summon every ounce of strength and determination to deny Lee 15-21 and to force a decider.

Having lost the second set to Chen Long, Lee hit back with lightning-fast pace and attacked his opponent with deadly pinpoint accuracy. After the interval, Lee took advantage of an impatience Chen Long who has committed several unforced errors, racing to close out the 82 minutes match with a 21-13 win in the rubber set.

Lee took home USD15,000 (about RM58,702) as the men's champion

In the women's singles, China's Wang Yihan prevailed over top seed and compatriot Li Xuerui 21-14, 13-21, 21-16 in an hour, clinching her third Asian title. This victory was also very critical for the 28-year-old Wang Yihan, as this tournament could give her an advantage over compatriot Wang Shixian when deciding who could represent China in the Rio Olympics.

Meanwhile, South Korean top seeded pair of Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong got the better of China's Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen 21-14, 28-26 in 58 minutes to win the men's doubles title

Japan's Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi crushed compatriots Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 21-13, 21-15 in the women's doubles final in 53 minutes.

The mixed doubles title went to the top seeded Chinese combination of Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, who saw off Indonesian second seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir 16-21, 21-9, 21-17 in an hour and one minute.
Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) offers a total prize money of USD200,000 (about RM782,700).

Viktor Axelsen & Carolina Marin clinch European Championship title

Denmark's rising badminton star World No. 4 Viktor Axelsen battled past compatriot and defending champion Jan O Jorgensen to clinch his first ever continental crown at the Badminton European Championships in France on Sunday.

Axelsen defeated the top seeded Jan O. Jorgensen in a fairly one-sided match with 21-11, 21-16 in 38 minutes.

In the women's singles final, top seed Carolina Marin prevailed over second seed Kirsty Gilmour 21-12, 21-18 in 43 minutes. It was the world champion Carolina Marin's second European Badminton Championships after triumphs in 2015.
Denmark's Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding came out as the winner in the men's doubles event after successfully defeating compatriots Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in three games 14-21, 21-18, 21-13 in the men's doubles final.
Meanwhile, Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen and Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl emerged as champions in mixed doubles and women's doubles.

Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan check into Badminton Asia Championships quarters

Wuhan: Lee Chong Wei has resisted a stirring first-set fightback from Hong Kong's Vincent Wong Wing Ki before the Malaysian moved on with 23-21, 21-12 to the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) quarter-finals on Thursday.

The World No. 2 Lee remained on course to meet Lin Dan in semi-finals after the two time Olympics champion Lin safely made it through over Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh 21-1, 21-11 in 39 minutes.

Lee Chong Wei will take on Taiwan's Chou Tien Chen in the quarters, while Lin Dan will square off against Lee Dong Keun on Friday.

Malaysia's independent shuttler Zulfadli Zulkiffli was no match for the Chinese ace, World No. 1 Chen Long in the men's second round. Chen duly prevailed 21-12, 21-10. Chen and No. 7 seed Tommy Sugiarto are set to meet in the quarter-finals.

Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen pulled off the biggest upset of the day in Wuhan on Thursday, beating second-seeded Indonesian men's doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 15-21, 21-15, 21-13 to push their ways into the quarter-finals.

In women's competition, 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China set pulses racing as she was dicing with danger several times before dousing the fireworks of Japanese Akane Yamaguchi with a pulsating 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 BAC second round victory on Thursday. Li is set to clash with Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan on Friday.

India's Saina Nehwal also brushed aside Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol in straight games 21-14, 21-18 to play third seeded Chinese Wang Shixian next.

On the other hand, World No. 1 women's singles shuttler Ratchanok Intanon suffered a shock second round exit at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium as she was knocked out by world No. 14 Sayaka Sato as she lost 17-21, 21-16, 21-17 in 63 minutes.