Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship scheduled to be held in Qingdao, China from 11th to 16th February 2025. Qingdao Conson Sports Centre is in charge for high voltage badminton actions at the fourth edition.
12 BWF nations are participating hense been divided into four groups.
Group A – China , Chinese Taipei , Singapore
Group B – Hong Kong , Indonesia , Malaysia
Group C – Japan , Kazakhstan , Thailand
Group D – India , Korea , Macau
China is the most successful nation in the history of the tournament winning inaugural bronze and defending champions from last two editions.
Korea have won 2 silver medals, whereas Japan won the inaugural gold and a silver in 2019.
The dark horse are Thailand (bronze in all three edition) and India(2023 bronze).
INDIAN SQUAD :
14 members Indian camp will led by double Olympics medalist Pusarla V. Sindhu, alongside Chirag Shetty Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, HS Prannoy, Lakshya sen, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand Pullela,Tanisha Crasto, Ashwini Ponnappa, Malvika Bansod, M.R. Arjun, Dhruv Kapila, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran,Aadya Variyath.
INDIAN CHANCES :
As per badminton enthusiastics anything short of a gold will be considered as disappointment for India , because India is only contender nation fielding a full strength squad . Except for mixed doubles all categories have top 15 shuttlers – Sindhu(13), Sen(10), Satchi(7), Jolly/Pullela(9) although form will play a big role .
However some powerhouse like China, Korea and Japan can’t be taken easy as last time Sindhu and Prannoy’s defeat from lower ranked chinese costed india the final spot ! This time China has some heavyweights namely Chen Yu Fei(2020 Olympics champion), Chen Qing Chen(regaining WD olympics champion).
India is placed in Group-D along with Korea and Macau .Korea offcourse coming with its second tier shuttlers with few notable names like Sim Yu Jin, Jeong Na Eun(paris Silver medalist), Jin Yong and Na Sung Seung,
But Korea in any team events are heavyweights due to their doubles combinations which are defensively deadly for the rest of world.
India has the calibre to defeat this Korean team . Also definitely have an upper hand and clear favourite against Macau.
SCHEDULE & TIMING :
Qualifying rounds — 11-13th February
Top two team from each group will qualify for the main draws after a draw ceremony
Quarter finals — 14 February
Semifinals — 15 February
Finals — 16 February
India vs Macau – 12th February (7:00 am)
India vs Korea – 13th February (7:00 am)
Last edition bronze medalist India will definitely aim to upgrade the colour this time.
