'Bridesmaids' Korea are the top seeds in Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championships
Defending champions China are unseeded but the mighty Chinese remain as the hot-favourites to clinch their fifth mixed team title in a row in the Pembangunan Jayaraya Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2017 to be held in Jakarta from July 22-30.
The mixed team event will be held from July 22-26 followed by the individual events.
South Korea, lost to China in the mixed team final four times in a row from 2013 to 2016, are the top seeds with hosts Indonesia seeded second followed by Thailand and Malaysia as the third and fourth seeds respectively.
The overall strength of teams is determined based on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking list dated 29th June 2017. China are at a low ninth place after Japan (5th), India (6th, Chinese Taipei at 7th and Singapore at 8th.
In last year's championships held in Bangkok, China brushed aside the Koreans 3-1 in mixed team final. China also made a clean sweep of all the five individual titles at stake - the men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and the mixed doubles - to reign supreme.
By the luck of the draw held in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (4th July), China and Korea were drawn in Group A - which is dubbed as the Group of Death with strong contenders India also drawn in the same group. The other team in the group are minnows Uzbekistan.
Since the Mixed Team competition came into being in 2006, Malaysia won the title twice - in 2007 and 2009 - defeating China in the final on both occasions. Korea (2006) and Japan (2012) won once each. Apart from clinching the title four times in a row since 2013, China were also champions in 2010 and 2011.
In the men's singles the top seed is India's Lakshya Sen - a beaten semi-finalist last year. He lost to eventual champion Sun Feixiang of China 12-21, 16-21 in the semi-finals. Last year's runners-up Lee Chia Hao of Chinese Taipei is seeded second.
Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska is the top seed in the women's singles. The Indonesian lass lost to China's Chen Yufei in the final. Yufei won 25-23, 21-14. Singapore's Yeo Jia Min is seeded second.
MIXED TEAM SEEDINGS
1. KOREA
2. INDONESIA
3. THAILAND
4. MALAYSIA
REST OF THE TEAMS
5. JAPAN
6. INDIA
7.CHINESE TAIPEI
8. SINGAPORE
9. CHINA
10. KAZAKHSTAN
11. HONG KONG
12. VIETNAM
13. UZBEKISTAN
14. MACAU
15. NEPAL
16. MONGOLIA
17. MYANMAR
18. PHILIPPINES
GROUPINGS
GROUP A
KOREA
INDIA
CHINA
UZBEKISTAN
GROUP B
MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE
VIETNAM
MACAU
MYANMAR
GROUP C
THAILAND
JAPAN
KAZAKHSTAN
MONGOLIA
PHILIPPINES
GROUP D
INDONESIA
CHINESE TAIPEI
HONG KONG
NEPAL
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