It is no surprise to find World No 1 Carolina Marin (ESP) in Women’s singles, at the very top of the seeding list. After winning the World Championship last year, and the recent European Championship as well, she is a serious candidate for the medals in Brazil. 

“I’m going to Rio with a chance to win a medal, while I went to London to gain experience”, Marin responds in a #AskCarolina-session made by Spanish network, La Liga 4 Sports, on Twitter. She reached the 2nd round in London but with the confidence that her results since 2012 must have brought her, it will be exciting to see if she can go all the way and bring gold to Europe.

The only other European lady that have made a seeding is Great Britain's Kirsty Gilmour. Named 11th women’s singles, Gilmour is rewarded for her brilliant form during the year-long Olympic qualifying period. BADMINTONscotland Chief Executive Anne Smillie said: “The No. 11 seeding is nothing less than Kirsty deserves. Everyone in Scotland knows how hard she has worked to get to Rio and today’s news is further reward for her effort, commitment and dedication.

For the Men’s singles there is double the amount of seeded entries; Viktor Axelsen (DEN) seeded 4, Jan Ø. Jørgensen (DEN) seeded 5, Marc Zwiebler (GER) seeded 12, and Rajiv Ouseph (GBR), just making the seeding as number 13. 

Europe will need all four to compete against the Asian stars. Lin Dan (CHN) is back for his possible 3rd consecutive gold, Lee Chong Wei (MAS) craving his first gold to Malaysia, and two-time World champion Chen Long (CHN) eager for his first Olympic gold as well. The three players just mentioned were to be found in the top 3 in London (2012), and our four European players are going to do their best to change that for this year’s Olympic podium. 

In the doubles’ categories, there is only one European seeding to be found. Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (DEN) is seeded 4th in Mixed Doubles, with tough opponents above them. Nan/Yunlei (CHN) are ahead in rankings and defending champions, but with their bronze from London the Danish pair are sure to be craving for more. World No 7 pair Chris and Gabby Adcock (GBR) are unseeded in the Mixed Doubles despite being another European favorite for medals in Rio. 

Furthermore, Men’s and Women’s Doubles both have European entries, but no seeding. Nonetheless, great expectations follow World No 5 Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (DEN), just out of reach for the top 4 seeding. And currently ranked No 8 in Men’s Doubles, the former silver-medalists in London 2012, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN) are back for more after a major comeback, due to Mogensen’s ruptured aortic brain aneurysms in February. Defending All England-champions, Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov (RUS), was seen as a dangerous entry to their Olympic colleagues, until a ruptured Achilles tendon at the European Championships in April, seemed to be the end to a great year for the Russian pair. The rehabilitation of Ivan Sozonov has however been successful over the past few months, so the Russian duo will be competing in Rio, alongside the rest of the world elite.


 MS WS Seeds
 MD WD XD Seeds

The draw format consists of group play followed by knockout. Both single’s events have 13 seeded entries, while in the doubles, they only have four. The Men’s Singles draw will consist of 41 players in 13 groups while, in Women’s Singles, 40 competitors will be divided into 13 groups; each group will have one seed. The draw in doubles will have four groups of four pairs; each group will include a seeded pair.

The singles competitors have to be divided into groups A to P, but groups B, O and F will not have any players. Each of the 13 seeds will be placed at the head of his/her group. In Men’s singles eleven groups will have three players each and two groups will have four players each, while in Women’s singles twelve groups will have three players, and one group will have four - no group should have two players of the same National Olympic Committee (NOC). 

The top seed will be placed at the head of Group A and the second seed at the head of Group P. Seeds 3 and 4 will be drawn by lots to the top of groups E and L; seeds 5 to 8 will be drawn by lots into groups C, G, J and N. The remaining seeds will be drawn by lots into groups D, H, I, K and M.

The other players are then picked by lots in a step by step manner until all of them are placed. The two groups with seeds 2 and 3 will accommodate four players each.

Following the group stage, where each player has to play every other player in his/her group, the top finisher in the group will enter the knockout stage (round of 16). The top players from groups A, P and E will get a bye since their respective opponents – groups B, O and F – do not have any players.

In doubles, the top-seeded pair is placed at the top of Group A; second seeds at the top of Group D and seeds 3 and 4 picked by lots into B and C. The remaining 12 pairs are distributed in the four groups by lots, ensuring that no group has two pairs from the same NOC.

Once the group stage is completed, the top two-ranked pairs from each group will qualify for the knockout stage (quarter-finals). A second draw is held for this stage for the eight qualified pairs, with pairs from the same group being separated. Winners of Group A and Group D are placed at opposite ends of the quarter-finals draw, followed by winners of B and C picked by lots into the other two quarters; the draw is then completed for the remaining pairs.

BWF has made it possible to follow live from the Olympic badminton venue, Riocentro – Pavilion 4 (Barra Zone). Watch out for the link to badmintonworld.tv on our social media channels, the days leading up to Tuesday (July 26). It is set to be at 11 am to 1 pm (Rio time), which will be 3 pm to 5 pm GMT and 4 pm to 6 pm CET.