Ahead of the European Games, the seeding for the Men’s Singles category has been released, for the multi-sport event which gets underway next month.
There is a number of high-profile names in the list and it is set up to be a great event with a lot of competition between the best players in Europe.
World Ranking points are available for the first time at this event, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
1 - VIKTOR AXELSEN – The former World Champion is seeded number one for the European Games. It is the first time that Axelsen will compete at the multi-sport event, following his great comeback from injury. The Dane returned at the start of the year and has won Three titles, one being a team event, as well as reaching the final of the YONEX All England. There is a feature with the Dane talking about the European Games in our magazine which will be out in June.
2 – ANDERS ANTONSEN - The number two seed is also a Dane. Who won the Indonesia Masters last year is second seed behind Axelsen, as he looks to show the audience what he can do and how close he actually is to the top. Antonsen played a pivotal part in securing the European Mixed Team Championships (EMTC), for Denmark in February 2019.
3 – MARK CALJOUW - Moving on, the number three seed for the event is Mark Caljouw from the Netherlands. The 24-year old won the Austrian Open 2019 back in February as well as playing for his country at the EMTC 2019.
4 – BRICE LEVERDEZ - The 32-year old is the fourth seed and will be looking to get his badminton performance back on track after some rocky tournaments, but despite that, he is still a strong competitor at the Games next month, seeded inside the top five.
5 – MISHA ZILBERMAN - The Israeli who is fifth seed is ranked 52 in the world has already played in eight tournaments this year, and recently won the Brazilian International at the start of May, after beating Brian Ying from Canada, who beat Brice Leverdez at the Sudirman Cup in Nanning, China.
6 – PABLO ABIAN - The sixth seed is actually a player to watch and has a history at the European Games. The Spaniard is the defending Champion of the event after winning in Baku four years ago. Abian spoke to us about his ambitions for the tournament in our Magazine which will be released next month.
7 – VLADIMIR MALKOV – The Russian is number seven seed for the event. Malkov was part of the Russian team at the EMTC and won the Dubai International in 2018. Malkov goes into the European Games in good form after an impressive perocfrmance from the individual at the Sudirman Cup.
8 – TOBY PENTY – Finally, the number eight seed, Toby Penty. The Englishman (representing Great Britain) will go into the European Games with a cool head as he can take control of the English Men’s Singles, with Rajiv Ouseph not competing. Penty ran the number one seed, Viktor Axelsen, very close at the Sudirman Cup this month.