Ratchanok, Cheah drawn in same group
Ratchanok Intanon and Busanan Ongbamrungphan will headline Groups N and D in the women’s singles badminton event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, respectively.
Former world champion Ratchanok, who is seeded fifth in Tokyo, is joined by Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah and Hungary’s Laura Sarosi in Group N.
Busanan, the 10th seed, is in Group D along with Estonia’s Kristin Kuuba and Peru’s Daniela Macias.
The women’s singles event consists of 43 players who are divided into 13 groups of three players and one group of four players (Group P) for the preliminary round.
Kantaphon Wangcharoen, the only Thai player in the men’s singles competition, is placed in Group K. The 14th seeded Kantaphon is joined by German player Kai Schaefer and Great Britain’s Toby Penty.
The men’s singles event features 14 groups of three players in the preliminary round.
In the mixed doubles event, third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai are in Group B alongside France’s Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, Britain’s Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith and Canada’s Joshua Hurlburt and Josephine Wu.
Dechapol and Sapsiree made history in January when they claimed a hat-trick of Super 1000 titles in three weeks. They won the Yonex Thailand Open, the Toyota Thailand Open and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in three successive weeks.
Women’s doubles stars Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai are in Group D with second seeds Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China, South Korea’s Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong, Bulgaria’s Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva, the European champions.
The Tokyo Games will start on July 23 with the badminton competition scheduled to take place between July 24 and Aug 2.