Some of the world’s top badminton players will meet at the Impact Arena in Bangkok next week for the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2022. The tournament, set to run from May 8-15, will feature a number of the world’s top key players, including nine of the top 10 in men’s singles. Indonesia heads into the week-long tournament as defending champions for the men’s team, while China’s women will be looking to defend their crown. Group A is shaping up as a key battleground, with Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie, ranked fifth and eighth respectively, taking on reigning world champion and 10th-ranked Loh Kean Yew, who makes his competition debut for Singapore. In Group B, world No 1 and reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen and third-ranked Anders Antonsen lead the way for Denmark. Group C has fourth-ranked Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan and ninth-ranked Lakshya Sen of India. Group D will be a face off between world No 2 Kento Momota and seventh-ranked Lee Zii Jia when Japan and Malaysia go head-to-head. Every player in the top 10 of the BWF women’s singles world rankings is expected to take part in the 29th staging of the BWF Uber Cup Finals 2022. Among them will be current world champion and No 2 Akane Yamaguchi, who suffered a stunning loss at the hands of China’s Wang Zhiyi in the final of the Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday, and No 5 Nozomi Okuhara will lead the way for Japan in Group A. Group B is the most stacked with four of the top 10 in it. Taiwan world No 1 Tai Tzu-ying will face the likes of Spain’s sixth-ranked Carolina Marín as well as China’s third-ranked Chen Yufei and ninth-ranked He Bingjiao. Hosts Thailand will come in as the overwhelming favourites in Group C, with former world champion and No 8 Ratchanok Intanon and tenth-ranked Pornpawee Chochuwong leading the squad. India and Korea will provide the fireworks in Group D, with P. V. Sindhu and fourth-ranked An Se-young headlining their respective countries.