BWF World Tour Finals 2023: Carolina Marin, Jonatan Christie and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting off to a winning start - shock defeats for Viktor Axelsen and An Se-Young
Can Viktor Axelsen win his third World Tour Finals title in a row despite losing his opening match? You can watch the competition from Hangzhou live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app in selected territories.
Badminton
Tournament favourites Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) and An Se-young (Republic of Korea) were in for a surprise on Tuesday (13 December) at the 2023 BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
While two-time reigning Finals champion Axelsen lost 21-19,21-19 to China's Shi Yuqi, top seed An suffered a 21-18, 21-18 shock defeat against her compatriot Kim Ga-eun.
The Dane, who has had a very successful 2023 including five World Tour titles, has been hampered by a foot injury in recent weeks. His lack of match fitness showed at important moments against Shi Yuqi.
Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting edged out Naraoka Kodai (Japan) 10-21, 21-10, 21-18 in the second Group A encounter. It took Ginting 72 minutes to defeat the top seed, who gained the most points on tour this year.
In Group B, world number six Jonatan Christie (Indonesia) trounced world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand) 21-18, 21-8, Denmark's Anders Antonsen had little trouble coming through 21-18, 21-12 against Li Shifeng (CHN).
In women's singles, Carolina Marín (Spain) got her Hangzhou campaign off to a winning start. The Rio 2016 Olympic badminton champion beat Beiwen Zhang (USA) 21-18, 21-10 in Group B play but An's stunning loss to Kim Ga-eun was the talk of the day.
In the absence of women's singles defending champion, Yamaguchi Akane (Japan), An went into the tournament as the player to beat after a stellar 2023 season, which saw her win eight tour titles on top of individual gold at the Asian Games.
You can watch the action live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app in selected territories.
Full draw – BWF World Tour Finals 2023
Men's singles
Women's singles
Men's doubles
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
BWF World Tour Finals 2023 schedule
- 13 December 2023 – Group stages
- 14 December 2023 – Group stages
- 15 December 2023 – Group stages
- 16 December 2023 – Semi-finals
- 17 December 2023 – Finals
Where to watch badminton's BWF World Tour Finals 2023
The World Tour Finals will be broadcast or streamed around the world by the BWF's partners, including Olympic Channel via Olympics.com (territorial restrictions apply).
Here is a list of selected broadcasters globally:
- China: CCTV5, Youku
- Chinese Taipei: Eltasports3
- Denmark: TV2
- Hong Kong China: SPOTV
- India: Sport18, Voot Select
- Indonesia: iNEWS, Visition+, MNC Vision, SPOTV
- Japan: J-Sports 1, TV Asahi
- Republic of Korea: SPOTV
- Malaysia: Astro Supersport 4
- Singapore: SPOTV
- Thailand: SPOTV
- Global: Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app, BWF.TV YouTube (geo-restrictions apply)