England's Singapore Open winners Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark have missed out on a seeding position at next month’s Yonex All England Open Championships in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena.

Such is the strength of the entry for the 100th edition of the oldest championship in world badminton that no home player is seeded for the tournament, which runs from March 9-14.

In the men’s singles Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, who has won the first two BWF Super Series events of the year in Korea and Malaysia, is again No. 1 seed with his great Chinese rival Lin Dan at No. 2.

That is the same seeding as last year when world and Olympic champion Lin Dan beat Lee in the final to claim his fourth title from his sixth consecutive All England final.

Four-times European champion and 1999 All England winner Peter Gade is the only Western player seeded. The Dane, who will be bidding to regain his European title at the Yonex European Badminton Championships at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester in April, is No. 5 in the seedings announced today by the BWF.

In the women’s singles Wang Yihan, who won the title last year when unseeded, is back to defend her title and is No. 1 seed.

China fill the first three seeded positions and seven of the eight seeds are Chinese born. France’s 2007 runner-up Pi Hongyan is fourth seed while India’s Saina Nehwal is seventh seed and Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi is No. 8.

It means that Denmark’s 2008 champion and 2009 runner-up Tine Rasmussen, who is ranked No. 10 in the world, is the most dangerous unseeded player in the draw.

In the men’s doubles defending champions and 2006 and 2009 world champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng are only seeded at No. 5 with Malaysia’s Tan Boon Heong and Koo Kien Keat the top seeds after their Malaysian Open win last month.

Indonesia’s Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan are at
No. 3 while Denmark provide the only European seeds with Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen at No. 4.
There will be a new name on the women’s doubles title and China are once again favourites with three pairs occupying the top three seedings.

Olympic champions Du Jing and Yu Yang are the favourites to lift the title won last year by world champions Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting.

Denmark’s World mixed doubles champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl, runners-up to Robertson and Gail Emms in 2005, will be aiming for title glory but they are only seeded No. 5 behind favourites Zheng Bo and Ma Jin.

Zheng Bo and former partner Gao Ling defeated Clark and Donna Kellogg in the 2008 final while 2009 All England winners He Hanbin and Yu Yang, who won in Korea last month, will be very much in contention as No. 4 seeds, just behind Olympic champions Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung at No. 3.

Europe’s other seeds are Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen at No. 4 – but England’s Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, Chris Adcock and Gabby White and Clark and new partner Heather Olver will be aiming to upset the seedings.


SEEDINGS
Men’s Singles:
1 Lee Chong Wei (Mas)
2 Lin Dan (Chn)
3 Chen Jin (Chn)
4 Taufik Hidayat (Ina)
5 Peter Gade (Den)
6 Bao Chunlai (Chn)
7 Boonsak Ponsana (Tha)
8 Tien Minh Nguyen (Vie)

Women’s Singles:
1 Wang Yihan (Chn)
2 Wang Lin (Chn)
3 Jiang Yanjiao (Chn)
4 Pi Hongyan (Fra)
5 Wang Xin (Chn)
6 Lu Lan (Chn)
7 Saina Nehwal (Ind)
8 Zhou Mi (Hong Kong)

 

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Men’s Doubles:
1 Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong (Mas)
2 Jung Jae Sung & Lee Yong Dae (Kor)
3 Markis Kido & Hendra Setiawan (Ina)
4 Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen (Den)
5 Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng (Chn)
6 Alvent Yulianto Chandra & Hendra Aprida Gunawan (Ina)
7 Guo Zhendong & Chen Xu (Chn)
8 Lee Wan Wah & Choon Tan Fook (Mas)

Women’s Doubles:
1 Du Jing & Yu Yang (Chn)
2 Ma Jin & Wang Xiaoli (Chn)
3 Cheng Shu & Zhao Yunlei (Chn)
4 Wong Pei Tty & Chin Eei Hui (Mas)
5 Cheng Wen Hsing & Chien Yu Chin (Tpe)
6 Satoko Suetsuna & Miyuki Maeda (Jpn)
7 Lee Kyung Won & Ha Jung Eun (Kor)
8 Mizuki Fujii & Reika Kakiiwa (Jpn)

Mixed doubles:
1 Zheng Bo & Ma Jin (Chn)
2 Nova Widianto & Liliyana Natsir (Ina)
3 Lee Yong Dae & Lee Hyo Jung (Kor)
4 He Hanbin & Yu Yang (Chn)
5 Joachim Fischer Nielsen & Christinna Pedersen (Den)
6 Jiaming Tao & Zhang Yawen (Chn)
7 Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Juhl (Den)
8 Hendra Aprida Gunawan & Vita Marissa (Ina)

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