Brandon’s Champions Corner #6

One of the most prestigious and exhilarating tournaments of the year is just around the corner! It’s time for the Sudirman Cup. Named after Dick Sudirman, a former Indonesian player and the founder of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), the Mixed Team World Championships is one of my absolute favorite events. It gives opportunities aplenty for the biggest stars to do battle as well as showcase the ‘lesserknowns’ who are willing to step up their game and perform their best when their countrymen and women are there cheering them on.

Alternating years with the Thomas (Men’s) & Uber (Women’s) Cups, the previous edition of the Sudirman Cup was held in Australia in 2017. My favorite moments were a fantastic MD between Bodin Isara / Nipitphon Phuangphuapet (Thailand) and Or Chin Chung / Tang Chun Man (Hong Kong) in group matches. Choi Solgyu / Seo Seung-Jae (Korea) vs Lee Jhe-Huei / Lee Yang (Chinese Taipei) was another cracker of a Men’s Doubles in Quarters. How about that Mixed Doubles in Semis?? Zheng Siwei / Chen Qingchen (China) vs Yuta Watanabe / Arisa Higashino (Japan) battled for 65 minutes!

Then it was Finals day. A perfect matchup between the top two countries in Sudirman history: China, holder of 10 titles and South Korea, victorious on three occasions. It was China who struck first via MD. Korea hit back with a win in Women’s Singles. China went up 2-1 in the best of 5 encounter with an easy win in MS. Korea leveled once more by clinching WD. Then, in what can only be described as a XD match chalk full of nervous energy, Korea came out on top 3-2 and secured their fourth trophy! China went with their second ranked XD team Lu Kai / Huang Yaqiong in that loss. They have since split. Interestingly, Huang now partners with Siwei Zheng who was on the bench that fateful finals day. They are the best XD pair in the world today and have since beaten the Koreans who were victorious in said final.

 

So… here we go. I will now give you the Redekop preview for this year’s race to the top of the widest podium you have ever seen.

First of all, I believe Japan will win. This was easier to say a few weeks ago before Arisa Higashino injured her ankle at the recent Asian Championships. However, I will back them nonetheless. They are simply too strong in the other four disciplines. They have Momota World Rank 1 and Nishimoto WR10 in MS. Okuhara and Yamaguchi WR2 and 4 respectively in WS. Kamura/Sonoda and Watanabe/Endo WR2 and 6 in MD, AND THEN we get to their strongest event: WD! The 1^st2^ndand 4^thranked pairs in the world all hail from Japan! They are leaving the WR7 pair at home on the practice courts for crying out loud!! This depth in their team will allow them to choose their line up for any given team match based on the opponent who awaits. They can also rest any players that get tangled up in long grueling matches. No other team has this luxury to this extent.

It won’t be a walk in the park of course. China will have something to say to be sure. Lin Dan has been left off the team to make way for younger players to thrive. Will Olympic Champion Chen Long (Newlywed to Wang Shixian former WS WR1) be able to spark his team to victory in China next week? Or will it be his youthful teammate Shi Yuqi who gets the task of defeating Momota should the occasion arise? Perhaps another outcome would be a Chinese victory through the graces of WS, MD, WD and XD. It would not be out of the question for them to win any or even all of these events as they carry World Champions in all events but WS on their roster. These are the slim margins of high-level sport that keep us sitting on the edge of our seats.

Will Indonesia, the only other country ever to lift the cup, be able to spring a surprise? The likes of Ginting & Christie in MS, Marcus/Kevin in MD, Gregoria Tunjung in WS, Polii/Rahayu in WD and Jordan/Oktavianti in XD have all shown they can beat anyone in the world when it’s their day.

An upset in Chinese Taipei’s favor in any doubles match combined with wins from Chou Tien Chen MS WR4 and Tai Tzu Ying WS WR1 could send a shock through the latter stages of the tournament.

Could heroics from Malaysia’s doubles players carry them deep in the tournament in absence of Lee Chong Wei.

I have not said anything about Denmark as they appear to be quite lackluster in WS, WD and XD. Which, of course, spells trouble for captain and MS WR3 Viktor Axelsen. Even if he hits 14 trickshots in his MS victories it still only counts as one point for team Danmark.

My motherland, Canada (ranked 15^thin the world), will be doing battle in tier two with Germany, Singapore, and Netherlands etc. chasing the prize of 13^thposition overall.

From May 19^thto 26^thChina will play host to all of these possibilities. Tune into BWF to discover the truth!

 

~ Brandon Redekop

~ May 11, 2019