Badminton: India handed the easy draw in the 2022 Common Wealth Games mixed team

Teams from 16 nations will be competing in the mixed badminton event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The teams will be divided into four groups, with the top two countries from each group advancing to the knockout stage. The final for the mixed team event will take place on August 2.

Commonwealth Games were first held in 1930 and have taken place every four years among the athletes from the commonwealth of nations since its inception. This year’s tournament will be held in Birmingham, England, from July 28 to August 8. The badminton event will consist of the mixed team event, followed by men’s and women’s singles. India won the mixed team event at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.

Each mixed event faceoff will test the over strength of the team. The mixed event consists of best of fives matches which include three doubles (men’s, women’s and mixed) and two singles (men’s and women’s)

The draw took place in Birmingham in March. Nigeria decided to withdraw from the competition in early May. However, their replacement by Zambia has been confirmed by BWF.

India will make it to the knockout stage of the badminton event with relative ease as they will be in the same draw as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia. They have significantly weaker mixed event badminton squads as compared to India.

The host nation England has been placed in Group 2 in the same part of the draw as Mauritius, Singapore and Barbados. The English side won the first eight editions of the team event from 1966 to 1994 and won the bronze medal 2018 edition.

Group 3 will consist of Scotland, Maldives and Canada alongside Uganda

Malaysia has been placed in Group 4 with Jamaica, South Africa and Zambia. India defeated the five-time champions of the Commonwealth Games mixed team event in the final of the 2018 edition of the tournament in Gold Coast, Australia.

President of Badminton World Federation, Poul-Erik Høyer, said, “The Commonwealth Games have a unique feel. While it features some of badminton’s traditional powers, there are also teams with a more recent badminton tradition. Thus, there is a beautiful diversity of styles and approaches to the competition. I wish all the competing teams the best of luck.