Chong Wei heads world championship list for men's singles

Malaysia's badminton ace, Datuk Lee Chong Wei heads the World Championship list for the men's singles event, said the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in a statement on Friday.

Chong Wei heads the list of the men''s singles qualifiers with 81,703 points, some 9,889 points ahead of world number two player, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

Meanwhile, defending men''s singles champion, Chen Long of China has fallen short of automatic qualification for the TOTAL BWF World Championships 2017 schedule to be held at Emirates Arena, Glasgow, on Aug 21 to 27.

The two-times world champion is ranked 9th in the latest BWF World Rankings as on April 27, the ranking date that determines the eligibility of players for the World Championships.

"A member association (MA) can field four players if they are ranked in the top 8, three players if they are ranked in the top 24, or two if they are ranked in the top 150.

"China has three players above Chen in the latest rankings - Shi Yuqi (5), Tian Houwei (7) and Lin Dan (8). Chen is short of the No. 8 ranking by 1,404 points," said the statement.

However, the choice of entries is up to the respective MA and Chen Long can secure his place if he is chosen by the Chinese Badminton Association over one of his three higher ranked compatriots.

Member associations have to confirm by May 11 whether or not its eligible players will enter under Phase 1 and the deadline for confirmation of entries in the second and final phase is on May 25.

Like China, Denmark has three qualifiers in the top 24 - Axelsen, Jan O Jorgensen (3) and Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (20) and so does India and Hong Kong.

India''s qualifiers are Ajay Jayaram (13), Kidambi Srikanth (22) and recent Singapore Open champion Sai Praneeth (23), while Hong Kong''s qualifiers are Ng Ka Long (10), Wong Wing Ki (11) and Hu Yun (14).

Brazil''s Ygor Coelho de Oliveira (56), South Africa''s Jacob Maliekal (108) and Australia''s Pit Seng Low (178) are the highest ranked players from Pan Am, Africa and Oceania respectively.

Each of the five continental confederations is entitled representation.

-- BERNAMA