Badminton Asia Championships 2023 (25-30 April)

QUARTERFINALS (1:00 pm local) => https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/ef5de126-c8e6-4b61-b575-9a3e41b50f83/Matches

Four seeds left in MS draw as top seed Christie withdraws before tournament starts, defending champion and #3 seed Lee ZJ crashes in the first round, and #6 seed Vitidsarn and #3 seed Chou TC falter in R2. Shi YQ unable to capitalize on Christie withdrawal, falling to Lee CY in R2. Loh KY beats Lakshya Sen in straight sets in R1 but now faces a tough challenge against Lee CY, an opponent he hasn't beaten in all three past encounters. Similar situation for Lu GZ who beat Chou in three games but now faces Naraoka whom he also hasn't beaten in all three past encounters. Meanwhile, possible thriller in the bottom quarter as All England champion Li SF faces World #2 Anthony Ginting.

As expected, all seeded players in WS are through to the quarterfinals. Only exception is Intanon who withdrew before the tournament started; her slot has been taken by Tunjung who has capitalized on this opportunity and now faces Olympic champion Chen YF in QF. Last year's final now being replayed in the QF stage but with different complexion as Yamaguchi has won 5 of the last 6 encounters since then. Will Wang ZY's extra rest day because of Chochuwong's withdrawal improve her chances? It remains to be seen. An in-form Tai TY faces familiar foe He BJ with almost equal odds based on 50-50 split in last 4 encounters, while PV Sindhu faces an uphill battle to notch her first ever win against An SY in their sixth meeting.

Lots of close R2 matches in MD with Liang/Wang, Fikri/Maulana, Ong/Teo, Ahsan/Setiawan, and Lee/Wang coming out on top in their matches. Interesting first encounter between Chinese youngsters and India Open champions Liang/Wang against resurgent Olympic Champions Lee/Wang.

Only three seeds left in WD as #2 seeds Matsuyama/Shida fall for the fourth time to Baek/Lee in R1, #5 seeds Rahayu/Ramadhanti fall to Aimsaards in R1, #4 seeds Zhang/Zheng fall to Matsumoto/Nagahara in R2, and All England champions Kim/Kong are upset by INA pair Kusuma/Pratiwi. #8 seeds Tan/Thinaah withdrew before the tournament started. Interesting clash in first quarter as defending champions Chen/Jia face Fukushima/Hirota for the first time since that emotional and tragic Tokyo 2020 Olympics QF for the JPN pair.

Only two seeds left in XD draw as #3 seeds Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai are upset by Midorikawa/Saito in R1 and #6 seeds Feng/Huang also upset by Ferdinansyah/Widjaja in R1. #4 seeds Seo/Chae gave a walkover in R2. Jordan/Oktavianti beat Orleans Masters champions Chen/Toh and set up a match with defending champions Zheng/Huang in QF; whoever wins this match may just end up winning the tournament.

Overall it seems players are deciding not to go all out here, even those with small injuries perhaps choosing to withdraw and recuperate as Olympic qualification starts in 2 weeks at the Sudirman Cup in Suzhou.