WORLD RANKING: Chen Jin overtakes Lin Dan – Massive boost for Thomas Cup title hopefuls?

Story by Jan Lin, Badzine correspondent.

It is a funny situation for China, as their reigning world champion men’s doubles pair of Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng has already been overtaken by the less established pair of Guo Zhendong / Xu Chen. Cai / Fu sit at 10th place while Guo / Xu take 5th spot with a huge 10,000-point cushion.

This may not be an entirely bad situation for China as Cai / Fu’s current form may not match up to the top doubles pairs of Cup hopefuls – Malaysia, Denmark, Indonesia and Korea – and may thus stand a better chance in seizing a point for team China by playing in the second doubles slot.

Should Lin Dan fail to cross the hurdle in New Delhi in April, and the men’s singles ranking stand as it is, this will certainly mean that prospects of the Chinese men dominating in Kuala Lumpur will be minimised, which is only good for the sport. While, the other Thomas Cup finalists, who see less drama in their players’ world rankings, will be bequeathed a bigger fighting chance for the title with down-the-wire scoreline anticipated in their match-ups against the defending champions.

Uber Cup: Just too ‘Wang’derful

Over in the women’s singles world rankings, the famous four ‘Wangs’ have completely dominated the chart with Wang Yihan (pictured right), Wang Lin, Wang Xin and the new-crowned Swiss Open champion Wang Shixian sweeping the top four spots.

To reinforce China’s depth, Swiss Open runner-up Jiang Yanjiao sits in 5th position, though reigning world champion Lu Lan has fallen to 8th spot, which fizzles out her chances of making the 2010 Uber Cup team. China has also captured the top 3 spots in the women’s doubles discipline with no contenders in sight.

So with China’s depth in both singles and doubles, it is a long shot for any team to topple the defending Uber Cup champions off their throne. Though nail-biting contests can be anticipated among Indonesia, Korea, Japan and host Malaysia, in the fight to play bridesmaid to China.

The Thomas and Uber Cups Finals will take place from 9 to 16 May 2010 in Kuala Lumpur and Badzine will be there to bring you ‘live’ coverage of the event, so stay tuned! And don’t forget to become a fan of Badzine on our Facebook Fan Page and follow us on Twitter for breaking news too.