Former No.1 Yuki Fukushima has entered the Sands China Ltd. Macau Open Badminton 2024 with  Atsumi Miyazaki.

Fukushima’s last tournament was the Badminton Asia Championships in April, where she and longtime partner Sayaka Hirota fell in the opening round.

Interestingly, this will be Miyazaki’s first tournament in five years – and her first senior international event. Her last appearance for Japan was at the BWF World Junior Championships 2019 in Kazan, where she made the quarterfinals with Chihiro Uchiyama.

Fukushima and Miyazaki, who are in the second quarter, face eighth seeds Hsieh Pei Shan/Hung En-Tzu in the opening round.

Another Miyazaki – rising star Tomoka – who was women’s singles runner-up at the VICTOR China Open yesterday – is seeded fourth and faces Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ling. The women’s singles draw has a strong presence from Thailand, in the form of top seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan, second seed Pornpawee Chochuwong, third seed Ratchanok Intanon and Lalinrat Chaiwan.

In men’s singles, Hong Kong China’s Lee Cheuk Yiu and Ng Ka Long Angus head the opposite ends of the draw.

Sixth seed Kidambi Srikanth is a prominent face in the bottom quarter, which has three other Indians – Ayush Shetty, Sankar Subramanian and Chirag Sen.

Withdrawals/Promotions

Men’s Singles: Orijit Chaliha, Abhishek Yeligar (both India). Promoted: Larry Pong (England), Keita Makino (Japan)

Women’s Singles: Malvika Bansod (India), Vivien Sandorhazi (Hungary). Promoted: Akari Kurihara (Japan), Huang Ching Ping (Chinese Taipei)

Men’s Doubles: Takumi Nomura/Yuichi Shimogami (Japan)

Women’s Doubles: Laksika Kanlaha/Phataimas Muenwong (Thailand)

Mixed Doubles: Tarun Kona/Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli (India), Lee Chun Hei/Ng Tsz Yau (Hong Kong China), Pakkapon Teeraratsakul/Phataimas Muenwong (Thailand), Bokka Navaneeth/Ritika Thaker; Wei Chun Wei/Teng Chun Hsun (Chinese Taipei)

Promoted: Wang Chi-Lin/Lin Jhih Yun, Chang Ko-Chi/Lin Yen Yu, Chen Xin-Yuan/Wang Yi Zhen (Chinese Taipei), Songpon Sae-Ma/Prinda Pattanawaritthipan (Thailand); Yueng Shing Choi/Lui Lok Lok (Hong Kong China)

→Draws