Defending singles champions Chen Long and Carolina Marin head into the BWF World Championships 2015 as the top seeds. The draw will be held today in Jakarta, 11am local time.

The seedings are based on the BWF World Rankings of 23 July 2015. China’s Chen (featured image) leads the standings thanks to his consistent performances that include three World Superseries titles this year: Yonex All England, Maybank Malaysia Open and The Star Australian Open. With 95900 points, Chen is way ahead of Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen, who is second in the rankings with 72367 points.

Yonex Sunrise India Open champion Kidambi Srikanth (India) and BCA Indonesia Open champion Kento Momota (Japan) are seeded No.3 and No.4 respectively. India has three seeds in Men’s Singles: apart from Srikanth, Kashyap Parupalli and HS Prannoy are also seeded, at No.10 and No.11 respectively.

Men’s Singles seeds:

Chen Long (China, 1); Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark, 2); Kidambi Srikanth (India, 3); Kento Momota (Japan, 4); Lin Dan (China, 5); Chou Tien Chen (Chinese Taipei, 6); Viktor Axelsen (Denmark, 7); Wang Zhengming (China, 8); Son Wan Ho (Korea, 9); Kashyap Parupalli (India, 10); HS Prannoy (India, 11); Marc Zwiebler (Germany, 12); Hu Yun (Hong Kong, 13); Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark, 14); Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia, 15); Rajiv Ouseph (England, 16)

Spain’s Carolina Marin shares an identical record this season with Chen Long, having won the same three Superseries titles as the Men’s Singles No.1. However, in Women’s Singles, the competition for the top slot has been tighter, with India’s Saina Nehwal and China’s Li Xuerui breathing down her neck. Nehwal (2), with 79191 points, is just 1421 points short of Marin.

Two-time runner-up Li heads three formidable Chinese among the seeds; the others being 2011 World champion Wang Yihan (6) and Wang Shixian (7). World champion in 2013, Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand; below), is seeded 5, while Commonwealth Games winner Michelle Li (Canada) is 12.

Women’s Singles seeds:

Carolina Marin (Spain, 1); Saina Nehwal (India, 2); Li Xuerui (China, 3); Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei, 4); Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand, 5); Wang Yihan (China, 6); Wang Shixian (China, 7); Sung Ji Hyun (Korea, 8); Nozomi Okuhara (Japan, 9); Bae Yeon Ju (Korea, 10); PV Sindhu (India, 11); Michelle Li (Canada, 12); Minatsu Mitani (Japan, 13); Sayaka Takahashi (Japan, 14); Busanan Ongbumrungpan (Thailand, 15); Maria Febe Kusumastuti (Indonesia, 16).

Men’s Doubles defending champions Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel (below) enjoyed a spell of good form after missing the first part of the season. The Koreans, winners of the Indonesia Open, are seeded No.7, while their compatriots, Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong, lead the standings ahead of All England champions Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Denmark). Two other Superseries-winning pairs this season – Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan and China’s Chai Biao/Hong Wei – follow them, while Singapore Open champions Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi are seeded 13.

Men’s Doubles seeds:

Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong (Korea, 1); Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Denmark, 2); Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan (Indonesia, 3); Chai Biao/Hong Wei (China, 4); Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan (China, 5); Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa (Japan, 6); Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel (Korea, 7); Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin (Chinese Taipei, 8); Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan (China, 9); Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding (Denmark, 10); Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov (Russia, 11); Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang (Korea, 12); Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi (Indonesia, 13); Kenta Kazuno/Kazushi Yamada (Japan, 14); Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Denmark, 15); Hirokatsu Hashimoto/Noriyasu Hirata (Japan, 16).

Defending Women’s Doubles champions Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei are seeded No.5, owing mainly to their performances last year. This season they played as a pair in only one tournament – the All England – following which Tian partnered Xia Huan and Tang Jinhua.  With the Chinese experimenting with their top Women’s Doubles pairs, the top spot has been occupied by Japan’s Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (above), winners of the India Open.

They are followed by Malaysia Open champions Luo Ying/Luo Yu (China) and veterans Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang (China).

Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl had a good run in Australia and Indonesia, helping them to No.4, while Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (Indonesia), at No.7, confirmed themselves as the dark horses of the event with a recent title win in Chinese Taipei.

Women’s Doubles seeds:

Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (Japan, 1); Luo Ying/Luo Yu (China, 2); Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang (China, 3); Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark, 4); Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (China, 5); Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting (China, 6); Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii (Indonesia, 7); Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda (Japan, 8); Eefje Muskens/Selena Piek (Netherlands, 9); Jung Kyung Eun/Chang Ye Na (Korea, 10); Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan (Korea, 11); Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei (Malaysia, 12); Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa (India, 13); Shizuka Matsuo/Mami Naito (Japan, 14); Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Thailand, 15); Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (Bulgaria, 16).

Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (China) have dominated the Mixed Doubles category, and the defending champions are once again expected to be the pair to beat. The top seeds, with 99785 points, are way ahead of No.2 pair and compatriots Xu Chen/Ma Jin, who surprised their favoured compatriots at the Indonesia Open after a sequence of losses.

Asian champions Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia), Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) and Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na (Korea) have all been on song lately, while Hong Kong’s Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah (above), seeded 9, might be expected to spring a few surprises.

Mixed Doubles seeds:

Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (China, 1); Xu Chen/Ma Jin (China, 2); Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia, 3); Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (China, 4); Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark, 5); Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong (China, 6); Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock (England, 7); Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na (Korea, 8); Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah (Hong Kong, 9); Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili (Indonesia, 10); Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto (Indonesia, 11); Edi Subaktiar/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (Indonesia, 12); Mads Pieler Kolding/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Denmark, 13); Michael Fuchs/Birgit Michels (Germany, 14); Jacco Arends/Selena Piek (Netherlands, 15); Chan Yun Lung/Tse Ying Suet (Hong Kong, 16)

Text by Dev Sukumar | Badmintonphoto