The 2023 edition of the much-awaited Sudirman Cup is around the corner with Indian shuttlers set to bring their best game in the tournament. There will be high hopes for Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy after their phenomenal performance in the Badminton Asia Championships recently.
Talking about the history, this badminton mixed team championships take place every two years organized by the Badminton World Federation. Since its inception in 1989, China has been the most successful team to date with 12 titles. The previous edition of the Cup took place in 2021 where China defeated Japan in the final.
Talking about India’s performance in the prestigious tournament so far, it has not been up to the mark with the giants of the badminton fraternity including China and Korea always leading the show. Their best performance came in the year 2011 and 2017 when they reached the quarter-final stage.
However, India once again has a strong team this time and they can turn their fortunes by providing some exceptional show just like Thomas Cup 2022.
Let’s take a look at the dates, venues and details about the format:
Dates
The 18th edition of the Sudirman Cup will begin on May 14 and the final of the prestigious tournament will take place on May 21. The edition will take place in China and the dates were announced earlier this year.
India qualified for the Sudirman Cup 2023 courtesy of the bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships and now their focus will be to create history in the Sudirman Cup.
Venue
The much-awaited Sudirman Cup 2023 will be in Suzhou, China. Earlier, it was supposed to take place in Delhi when the city was awarded the hosting rights back in November 2018 but now India has accepted the offer to host the 2026 BWF Badminton World Championships in exchange.
Groups
China won their 12th Sudirman Cup in the year 2021
Sixteen teams are set to participate in the tournament with the hosts and the defending champions earning a direct qualification. China, being the both host and defending champion qualified and the rest were qualified on the basis of the continental qualifying tournaments.
Four teams each from Asia and Europe and one each from Africa, Oceania, and Pan America made the cut and the remaining slots were determined via team rankings.
The draw for the tournament took place in Suzhou where sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four. Here are the groups for the Sudirman Cup 2023:
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| China | Thailand | India | Canada |
| Japan | South Korea | Singapore | England |
| Indonesia | Denmark | Germany | Egypt |
| Malaysia | Chinese Taipei | France | Australia |
Group A contains top seed China, followed by second seed Japan and the next two best teams Indonesia and Malaysia. Group B contains the next best four teams in Thailand, South Korea, Denmark, and Chinese Taipei followed by the other eight teams in Group C and Group D.
India has been grouped with Singapore, Germany, and France in Group C while Canada, England, Egypt, and Australia are placed in Group D.