Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, who struck a rich vein of form earlier this year winning the prestigious YONEX All England and the Badminton Asia Championships, found himself in a difficult group as the draws for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were made today.

While the draws for men’s singles, women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles were conducted, the men’s doubles draw has been postponed.

World No.3 Christie found himself in Group L with India’s Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen, semifinalist at the All England in March; Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon – one of the heroes of Tokyo 2020 with a last-four finish; and No.52 Julien Carraggi of Belgium.

Christie’s compatriot Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020, too is in a tricky group alongside France’s Toma Junior Popov, runner-up at the 2024 European Championships.

Defending champion and second seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark will have to contend with Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen, Israel’s Misha Zilberman and Nepal’s Prince Dahal in Group P.

Only the top player from every group in singles will progress to the knock-out stage (Round of 16).

World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand) is in Group C, and, should the results follow seedings, will run into top seed Shi Yu Qi in the quarterfinals.

In women’s singles, the most striking group is Group E, with Tokyo 2020 runner-up Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei) up against former world champion Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) and Lianne Tan (Belgium).

The top half of the women’s singles draw could provide some early fireworks, with reigning world champion An Se Young (Korea) likely to run into two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) in the quarterfinals.

In the bottom half of the draw, defending champion Chen Yu Fei faces German Open 2024 champion Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark and Germany’s Yvonne Li.

Battle of Olympic Finalists

Group A of women’s doubles is a minefield, featuring finalists from Tokyo 2020.

Four-time world champions and Tokyo 2020 silver medallists Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan find themselves alongside gold medallist Apriyani Rahayu, who is with a different partner this time, Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.

Besides the two strong pairs, Group A also has two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (Japan) and Commonwealth Games champions Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan (Malaysia). Only the top two pairs from each group will proceed to the knockout stage (quarterfinals).

Similarly, Group A of mixed doubles could be a slippery slope. Although three-time world champions Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (China) are favourites for the only major title to elude them, the Olympic silver medallists will have to be on their toes from the beginning as they take on world No.8 Kim Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun (Korea), home hopes Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue and No.13 Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari (Indonesia).

Here are the draws:

Mixed Doubles

Women’s Doubles

Women’s Singles

Men’s Singles