Kuala Lumpur: Badminton Asia has released the official draw for the 2016 Badminton Asian Team Championships (BATC) which serves as the Asia qualifying tournament for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals to be held in Kunshan, China from May 15-22.
The relatively young Malaysia men’s team was drawn into Group B together with the 2014 Thomas Cup champions Japan, Sri Lanka and Nepal in a drawing ceremony that was held at the ITC Kakatiya Hotel in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
With the defending champion Japan and host China already qualified for the Kunshan Thomas Cup finals on merit, Malaysia needs to complete its campaign in the top six in Hyderabad in order to keep their Thomas Cup finals hopes alive.
Malaysia’s Uber Cup team was also given a difficult draw at BATC after the Malaysian women were placed in Group A with defending champions China, and Hong Kong in the women’s team category.
Below are the complete drawing results for the 2016 Badminton Asian Team Championships:
Men’s Team:
Group A: China, India, Singapore
Group B: Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal
Group C: Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Maldives
Group D: Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines
Women’s Team:
Group A: China, Malaysia, Hong Kong
Group B: Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka
Group C: Korea, Indonesia, Maldives
Group D: Japan, India, Singapore
