WUHAN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of competitors at the 2019 Asia Badminton Championships was announced here on Tuesday, featuring shuttlers from China, Japan, Indonesia and other top badminton nations.
Under tournament regulations, it is compulsory for the top 10 Asian players in each of the five categories (men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles) to participate.
Chinese shuttlers Lin Dan, Chen Long and Shi Yuqi will play in the men's singles, where world number one Kento Momota of Japan will seek to defend his title. Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei and South Korea's Sun Wan-Ho are also among the title favorites.
Chen Yufei, who won the women's singles gold in the All England Open Badminton Championships, will represent China in the women's singles along with teammates He Bingjiao and Han Yue. They will face the likes of Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi, P. V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal of India, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, and South Korea's Cheng Chi-hyun.
The four Chinese pairs competing for the men's doubles title are Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen, He Jiting/Tan Qiang, Zhang Nan/Liu Cheng and Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong.
Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan, who won the All England Open Badminton Championships, will compete in the women's doubles competition. Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, and Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping will compete in the mixed doubles event.
The 2019 Asia Badminton Championships will be held in Wuhan, China from April 23 to 28.
