Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Preview, full schedule, how to watch live

Continental crowns are up for grabs in the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships from 25-30 April at the Al Nasr Club in Dubai.

This is the first time the event is behind held in the emirate with the tournament staying there for the next four years, matching Wuhan's run from 2015-2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

There are 32 players (or pairings) in each main draw with 28 already placed and four coming from round-robin qualifiers taking place on the opening day.

The first round starts on Wednesday 26 April with Lee Zii Jia beginning the defence of his title against Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, China.

Women’s holder Wang Zhiyi will meet a qualifier in the opening round with top seed and last year’s beaten finalist Yamaguchi Akane facing India’s Malvika Bansod.

Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of the People’s Republic of China are bidding for a hat-trick of women’s doubles crowns with Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong defending their mixed doubles title.

Last year’s surprise men’s doubles champions, Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Rambitan of Indonesia, will not be in Dubai with the pair only 21 in the world rankings.

Read on to find out the main match-ups in the singles draws, schedule and how to watch the action.

Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Men’s singles preview

Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie is the top seed with compatriot Anthony Ginting two and reigning champion Lee Zii Jia three.

Naraoka Kodai is the highest-seeded of three Japanese in the draw at four with Momota Kento - champion in 2018 and 2019 - missing out.

Last year’s World Championship runner-up Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand is seeded six.

The pick of the first-round matches sees Christie face China’s in-form world number 10 Shi Yuqi.

There are no seeded Chinese players in the men’s draw with All England Open champion Li Shifeng - ranked 11 in the world - starting his campaign against Republic of Korea’s Jeon Hyeok-jin.

Another intriguing first-round tie sees 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew take on India’s Lakshya Sen.

Lee Zii Jia is still seeking his first title of 2023 having bowed out in the semi-finals of both the All England and last month’s Swiss Open.

It looks a wide-open event with unseeded Japanese Nishimoto Kenta taking the Spain Masters at the start of the month before making an early exit at the Orleans Masters.

Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Men’s singles draw

Group Stage

Group A: Hussein Zayan Shaheed (MDV), Mohammad Falamarzi (UAE), Kah Kit Kan (BRU).

Group B: Batdavaa Munkhbat (MGL), Prince Dahal (NEP), Nawaf Alghamdi (KSA).

Group C: Salar Bayat (IRI), Bharath Latheesh (UAE), Yousif Alhumairi (IRQ).

Group D: Jewel Angelo Albo (PHI), Raymond Sing (TLS), Aljallad Ahmad (SYR).

Round 1

[1] Jonatan Christie (INA) v Shi Yuqi (CHN)

Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG) v Ng Tze Yong (MAS)

[7] Loh Kean Yew (SGP) v Lakshya Sen (IND)

Bahaedeen Ahmad Alshannik (JOR) v Group A winner

[4] Naraoka Kodai (JPN) v Group C winner

Kidambi Srikanth (IND) v Adnan Ebrahim (BRN)

[5] Chou Tien-chen (TPE) v Nguyen Hai Dang (VIE)

Lu Guangzu (CHN) v Kantaphon Wangcharoen (THA)

Dmitriy Panarin (KAZ) v Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (INA)

Phone Pyae Naing (MYA) v HS Prannoy (IND)

Group B winner v Tsuneyama Kanta (JPN)

Ng Ka Angus Long (HKG) v [3] Lee Zii Jia (MAS)

Li Shifeng (CHN) v Jeon Hyeok-jin (KOR)

Viren Nettasinghe (SRI) v [6] Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA)

Nishimoto Kenta (JPN) v Group D winner

Wang Tzu-wei (TPE) v [2] Anthony Ginting (INA)

Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Women’s singles preview

Should top seeds Yamaguchi Akane and An Se-young reach the final, they will meet for the fourth time this year with the score currently at 2-1 to Yamaguchi.

An has reached five finals in five BWF World Tour tournaments this year, winning three and losing the other two to her Japanese rival who won this tournament in 2019 and just failed to retain it last year following the pandemic-enforced break.

The pair are clearly the top players in women’s badminton at present, but Olympic champion Chen Yufei is always a threat and beat Yamaguchi at the All England before going down in the final to An who has not played since.

There are two other former winners in the draw in the shape of Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying, who was victorious in 2017 and 2018, and 2015 champion Ratchanok Intanon.

Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Women’s singles draw

Group Stage

Group A: Thuy Ling Nguyen (VIE), Romina Tajik (IRI), Rashmi Mudalige (SRI).

Group B: Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi (INA), Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq (MDV), Kamila Smagulova (KAZ).

Group C: Thet Htar Thuzar (MYA), Mikaela Joy De Guzman (PHI), Madhumita Sundarapandian (UAE).

Group D: Yeung Sum Yee (HKG), Zainaba Reem Siraj (UAE), Rasila Maharjan (NEP).

Round 1

[1] Yamaguchi Akane (JPN) v Malvika Bansod (IND)

Putri Kusuma Wardani (INA) v Sung Shuo-yun (TPE)

[6] Wang Zhiyi (CHN) v Group C winner

Kisona Selvaduray (MAS) v Pornpawee Chochuwong (THA)

[4] Tai Tzu-ying (TPE) v Yeo Jia Min (SGP)

Supanida Katethong (THA) v Nidaira Natsuki (JPN)

[5] He Bingjiao (CHN) v Kim Ga-eun (KOR)

Saina Nehwal (IND) v Group B winner

Gregoria Tunjug (INA) v Pai Yu-po (TPE)

Aakarshi Kashyap (IND) v [7] Ratchanok Intanon (THA)

Group D winner v Ohori Aya (JPN)

Sim Yu-jin (KOR) v [3] Chen Yufei (CHN)

Kawakami Saena (JPN) v Yue Han (CHN)

Wen Chi-hsu (TPE) v [8] PV Sindhu (IND)

Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA) v Group A winner

Goh Jin Wei (MAS) v [2] An Se-young (KOR)

Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Doubles preview

Indonesia are strongly represented in the men's doubles even without last year's champions with Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto the top seeds although they will have to be at their best in their opener against China's recent Spain Masters winners He Jiting and Zhou Haodong.

The 'Daddies' - Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan - are seeded three with Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana and Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin completing the Indonesia challenge.

The last-named pairing are in arguably the pick of the first-round ties against Malaysia's second seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan won the last two women's doubles tournaments in 2019 and 2022 and will be looking to bounce back from last month's shock All England quarter-final exit to Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong.

The Koreans are seeded three in Dubai with Japan's second seeds Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu facing All England runners-up Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee in round one.

Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong are the top seeds having denied Olympic champions Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping a hat-trick of Asian titles in the final last year.

Huang Dongping plays alongside Feng Yanzhe this year with the pair seeded six, while Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Watanabe Yuta and Higashino Arisa are the second seeds.

Badminton Asia Championships 2023 schedule

Tuesday 25 April

Group Stage

Wednesday 26 April

Round 1

Thursday 27 April

Round 2

Friday 28 April

Quarter-finals

Saturday 29 April

Semi-finals

Sunday 30 April

Finals

How to watch Badminton Asia Championships 2023

There will be live streaming for much of the tournament - without geo-restrictions - on the Badminton Asia YouTube channel.

In India, the event will be broadcast on Sony Sports TEN 2 and streamed live on the SonyLIV platform.

Astro's subscription channels will show the action in Malaysia while SPOTV (available on either Starhub or Singtel) is the place to go in Singapore. Check local listings for coverage in other countries.

If you are unable to find a screen to watch the matches, keep up to date with reports and results as well as the best of the action on Olympics.com.