Who’s competing for Great Britain?published at 08:24 Greenwich Mean Time 12 March
BBC Sport
An exciting start to the mixed doubles tournament for British fans as Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith (ENG) face compatriots Gregory Mairs/Jenny Mairs (ENG). Ellis is one of a select few Brits to have won an Olympic medal in badminton (men’s doubles bronze in 2016), while he and Smith were silver medallists at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Meanwhile, the Mairs were part of the bronze-winning team at the 2023 European Mixed Team Championships.
Men’s doubles features Ben Lane/Sean Vendy (ENG), also silver medallists in Birmingham in 2022 and runners-up last year at the European Games. Alexander Dunn/Adam Hall (SCO) are the other Brits in the draw, following on from theirbronze at least year’s European Games.
Leading hopes in the singles is Kirsty Gilmour (SCO). Gilmour has won a silver and a bronze at the Commonwealths and last month was also part of the Scottish team who won bronze at the European Team Championships.
Rest of the World
Amongst the international stars are Viktor Axelsen (DEN) in the men’s singles; he won gold at Tokyo 2020 and is a multiple world champion. Carolina Marin (ESP) in the women’s singles won gold at Rio 2016 and is a three-time World Champion, while last year’s All England Open winner An Se-Young (KOR) returns to defend her title.
In women’s doubles, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan (CHN) are four-time World Champions and 2020 Olympic runners-up. Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin (TPE) in the men’s doubles are the reigning Olympic champions. Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (CHN) are the Olympic silver medallists and World Champions in the mixed doubles.
