THOMAS & UBER CUP FINALS – Team Rosters published

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has published the entry lists for the 2012 Dongfeng Citroën BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals.  These competitions, the World Championships in men’s and women’s team badminton, kick off on May 20th in Wuhan, China.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto

Defending Thomas Cup champions and hosts China are fielding an all world top-ten line-up in their bid for a fifth consecutive title. Defending Uber Cup champions Korea will be hard-pressed to take the title back with them across the Yellow Sea at the end of the month as China has only two players not from the world’s top 4.  Particularly high expectations are for a romp at third singles by in-form Li Xuerui (pictured here with fellow All England finalist Wang Yihan).

Uber Cup second seeds Japan provided one of the few surprises in the lists, dropping former world #2 veterans Miyuki Maeda / Satoko Suetsuna in favour of youngsters Misaki Matsutomo / Ayaka Takahashi (pictured below).  Chinese Taipei will also be without veteran singles star Cheng Shao Chieh.  Korea and China will be at full-strength, though for the defending champions, that means digging below the world’s top 100 for a third singles player, but still finding Hwang Hye Youn, a former Asian Games and All England bronze medallist.  China has gone with experience this time, passing over world #9 Bao/Zhong and #11 Tang/Xia to take veterans Cheng/Pan for the backup doubles slot.

Denmark, Thailand, and England have all looked to top mixed doubles specialists to augment their doubles squads, availing themselves of the talents of, respectively, Joachim Fischer-Nielsen (pictured below in a temporary 2008 partnership with world #3 Mathias Boe), Saralee Thoungthongkam, and Nathan Roberston to create potentially dangerous scratch pairings.

However, Indonesia will not be joining them in that department this time around.  Instead, they have recruited half of two different top doubles pairs to bring Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Ryan Agung Saputra to their squads, each without his regular partner.

The complete entry lists are shown below, together with links to the BWF’s official lists.

China
Thomas Cup:  Lin Dan, Chen Long, Chen Jin, Du Pengyu, Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng, Chai Biao, Guo Zhendong, Hong Wei, Shen Ye

Uber Cup:  Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, Wang Shixian, Li Xuerui, Wang Xiaoli, Yu Yang, Tian Qing, Zhao Yunlei, Cheng Shu, Pan Pan

Korea
Thomas Cup:  Lee Hyun Il, Shon Wan Ho, Hong Ji Hoon, Lee Dong Keun, Jung Jae Sung, Lee Yong Dae, Ko Sung Hyun, Yoo Yeon Seong, Kim Ki Jung, Kim Sa Rang

Uber Cup:  Sung Ji Hyun, Bae Youn Joo, Hwang Hye Youn, Kim Soo Jin, Ha Jung Eun, Kim Min Jung, Jung Kyung Eun, Kim Ha Na, Eom Hye Won, Jang Ye Na

Japan
Thomas Cup:  Sho Sasaki, Kenichi Tago, Takuma Ueda, Riichi Takeshita, Hiroyuki Endo, Kenichi Hayakawa, Hirokatsu Hashimoto, Noriyasu Hirata, Naoki Kawamae, Shoji Sato

Uber Cup:  Sayaka Sato, Ai Goto, Eriko Hirose, Minatsu Mitani, Mizuki Fujii, Reika Kakiiwa, Shizuka Matsuo, Mami Naito, Misaki Matsutomo, Ayaka Takahashi

Denmark
Thomas Cup:  Peter Gade, Jan Jorgensen, Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, Viktor Axelsen, Mathias Boe, Carsten Mogensen, Mads Conrads Petersen, Jonas Rasmussen, Mads Pieler Kolding, Joachim Fischer-Nielsen

Uber Cup:  Tine Baun, Karina Jorgensen, Line Kjaersfeldt, Lene Clausen, Christinna Pedersen, Kamilla Rytter Juhl, Line Damkjaer Kruse, Marie Roepke, Maria Helsbol

Indonesia
Thomas Cup:  Simon Santoso, Taufik Hidayat, Tommy Sugiarto, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, Mohammad Ahsan, Bona Septano, Markis Kido, Hendra Setiawan, Alvent Yulianto Chandra, Ryan Agung Saputra

Uber Cup:  Maria Febe Kusumastuti, Adriyanti Firdasari, Linda Weni Fanetri, Belaetrix Manuputi, Meiliana Jauhari, Greysia Polii, Anneke Feinya Agustine, Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, Suci Rizky Andini, Della Destiara Haris

Germany
Thomas Cup:  Marc Zwiebler, Dieter Domke, Lukas Schmidt, Marcel Reuter, Ingo Kindervater, Johannes Schoettler, Michael Fuchs, Oliver Roth, Peter Kaesbauer, Josche Zurwonne

Uber Cup:  Juliane Schenk, Olga Konon, Karin Schnaase, Carola Bott, Fabienne Deprez, Sandra Marinello, Birgit Michels, Carla Nelte, Johanna Goliszewski, Isabel Herttrich

Chinese Taipei
Uber Cup: Tai Tzu Ying, Pai Hsiao Ma, Hung Shih Han, Cheng Wen Hsing, Chien Yu Chin, Hsieh Pei Chen, Wang Pei Rong, Chiang Kai Hsin, Tsai Pei Ling

Thailand
Uber Cup:  Ratchanok Intanon, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, Sapsiree Taerattanachai, Nichaon Jindapon, Duang Anong Aroonkesorn, Kunchala Voravichitchaikul, Saralee Thoungthongkam, Savitree Amitrapai

Malaysia
Thomas Cup:  Lee Chong Wei, Liew Daren, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, Chong Wei Feng, Koo Kien Keat, Tan Boon Heong, Goh V Shem, Lim Khim Wah, Hoon Thien How, Tan Wee Kiong

Russia
Thomas Cup:  Vladimir Ivanov, Ivan Sozonov, Vladimir Malkov, Denis Grachev, Anatoliy Yartsev, Vitalij Durkin, Alexandr Nikolaenko, Evgenij Dremin, Sergey Lunev

England
Thomas Cup:  Rajiv Ouseph, Carl Baxter, Ben Beckman, Toby Penty, Chris Adcock, Andrew Ellis, Chris Langridge, Peter Mills, Nathan Robertson

Netherlands
Uber Cup:  Yao Jie, Judith Meulendijks, Josephine Wentholt, Paulien Van Dooremalen, Selena Piek, Iris Tabeling, Samantha Barning, Ilse Vaessen, Eefje Muskens

USA
Thomas Cup:  Sattawat Pongnairat, Howard Shu, Nicholas Jinadasa, Howard Bach, Tony Gunawan, Phillip Chew

Uber Cup:  Rena Wang, Iris Wang, Eva Lee Paula Lynn Obanana, Jamie Subandhi

South Africa
Thomas Cup:  Jacob Malieka, Willem Viljoen, Prakash Viyajanath, Dorian Lance James

Uber Cup:  Kerry-Lee Harrington, Stacey Doubell, Michelle Claire Edwards, Annari Viljoen

New Zealand
Thomas Cup:  James Eunson, Michael Fowke, Luke Charlesworth, Kevin Dennerly-Minturn, Oliver Leydon-Davis

Australia
Uber Cup:  Victoria Na, Gronya Somerville, Tara Pilven, Jacqueline Guan, Renuga Veeran, Leanne Choo, He Tian Tang, Eugenia Tanaka, Wendy Chen Hsuan-Yu