World champion lin Dan and world No. 1 lee Chong Wei will lead the parade of star badminton players in the li-Ning BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, 2014 to be played at the Siri Fort Sports Complex between May 18 and 25.
Dan, who won his fifth world title last year, has not been very active on the international circuit this year, yet he was named in the Chinese squad as their fourth singles player. This would mean that the world No. 58 can only play the third singles in any match.
As per the rules of the tie, the singles players are nominated to play the singles rubbers according to their world rankings and hence the last ranked player in the team has to play the third singles.
The other singles members in the Chinese team include world No. 2 Chen long, world No. 6 Pengyu Du and world No. 16 Houwei Tian, who has been picked ahead of world No. 7 Zhengming Wang as the defending champions look to rewrite history by becoming the first team to win the Thomas Cup crown for the sixth successive time.
In the Uber Cup, the Chinese have named a formidable team with Olympic champion No. 1 li Xuerui leading the charge along with Shixian Wang and Yihan Wang.
Apart from having a top-class Chinese feast, the badminton lovers will also get to watch the likes of world champion Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand), who has recovered from her heel injury and world No. 5 Ji Hyun Sung and world No.6 Yeon Ju Bae, both from Korea.
Saina, srikanth to lead Indian team
Meanwhile, Indian team has been picked on the basis of rankings, with Saina Nehwal leading charge in the Uber Cup competition and K Srikanth shouldering the responsibility in the Thomas Cup.
With many teams having gone with four singles and six doubles players — maximum number of players allowed in the squad is 10-India have opted for a combination of five singles and five doubles players in both their squads.