Badminton Association of England declares 13-player squad for the Sudirman Cup 2011 – Badminton News
Badminton Association of England yesterday declared a 13-player squad for the biggest mixed team championship, the Sudirman Cup 2011, set to begin from May 22, at Qingdao, China.
The English team comprises on a balanced blend of young and experienced shuttlers, who have been serving the country for the last many years. Nathan Robertson, Anthony Clark, Rajiv Ouseph, Elizabeth Cann, Carl Baxter and Chris Langridge are the famous names
which will feature in this squad.
Carl Baxter, who is the top seed in England in the Men’s Singles category, will make his first appearance in the Sudirman Cup. Teaming up with Baxter will be Men’s Doubles national champion of England, Chris Langridge, who will also play in the event for
the first time. Both shuttlers have the capacity to beat any player in the world of badminton on a given day.
Robertson and Clark are two of most privileged shuttlers in England, who have completed their 100 appearances in different international team championship events. Both of them have won many titles in major events in the world of Badminton.
The rest of the squad has already participated in the previous edition of the Sudirman Cup in 2009, held in Guangzhou, China. The same squad of England also played the Commonwealth Games 2010, which were held in India.
Robertson, Ouseph, Clark and Elizabeth were also a part of the team when England won the bronze medal in the 2007 edition of Sudirman Cup, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Among the 11 editions of Sudirman Cup, China dominates the points table by winning seven out of the eleven editions. Korea takes the second place by winning two, whereas, Indonesia remains at number three by winning the event on one occasion.
The first edition of Sudirman Cup was played in 1989, in Indonesia. Indonesian shuttlers proved their worth and won the title by beating Korea in the final. Korea then won two consecutive titles in 1991 and in 1993, respectively. In 1995, China took the
charge and won four editions of this mixed team championship event in a row, until 2001.
Korea again became the champion in 2003, by beating China in the final. However, China established a strong hold by winning the previous three editions in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Chinese shuttlers are progressing in every category of the game including the
Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
In the 12th edition of Sudirman Cup, 33 countries will be fighting to win the glory for their country and England is seeded at number 11. China, the powerhouse of badminton, will send their top strength players in the event to defend the title
successfully.
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