Shi Yuqi and An Seyoung learn first-round opponents in New Delhi; Shi opens against home hope Ayush Shetty

Badminton World Championships 2026 draw: World number ones Shi Yuqi and An Seyoung discover their opponents

Top seed Shi opens against home hope Ayush Shetty, while An drew Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova at Wednesday’s ceremony.

World no.1 badminton players Shi Yuqi and An Seyoung learned their first-round opponents as the draw for the BWF World Championships 2026 was conducted in New Delhi on Wednesday (5 August).

Defending champion Shi, the men’s singles top seed, drew home hope Ayush Shetty . Meanwhile An, top seed in the women’s draw and the Paris 2024 Olympic champion , will start against Bulgarian prospect Kaloyana Nalbantova .

Shi and Shetty met in this season’s Badminton Asia Championships final, which the People’s Republic of China shuttler won for his only title of the year so far.

An last won the world title in 2023. If she is to regain the title, she will have to come through a quarter which includes tough opposition such as Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt , fifth seed Han Yue of China, and her Republic of Korea compatriot Kim Gaeun .

Second seed Yamaguchi Akane meets Nguyen Thuy Linh , while third seed Wang Zhiyi drew Beiwen Zhang .

Elsewhere, 2021 men’s champion Loh Kean Yew drew Brian Yang , and 2023 runner-up Naraoka Kodai faces Chi Yu Jen .

Loh could then meet Victor Lai in the third round. The Canadian beat Loh in the quarter-finals at last year’s championships on his way to Canada’s first-ever World Championships medal (bronze), and has climbed from world number 50 to seven in the 12 months since.

Both singles events feature 64 players each, while the three doubles events involve 48 pairs, meaning all 16 seeds receive a first-round bye in those events. Men’s doubles defending champions Kim Wonho and Seo Seungjae will meet either Christo Popov

Toma Junior Popov or Nomura Takumi

Shimogami Yuichi in round two.

An Se Young (KOR) v He Bing Jiao (CHN) - Women’s Singles Gold Medal Match | Badminton | Olympic Games Paris 2024

The Women’s Singles Gold Medal match between An Se Young (KOR) v He Bing Jiao (CHN) which took place at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena on 05

An Se Young (KOR) won the match with a final score of 2:0.

The medal ceremony saw An Se Young (KOR) take Gold, He Bing Jiao (CHN) take Silver and Gregoria Tunjung (INA) take the Bronze medal.

Badminton World Championships 2026 draw results

You can find the full draws for each event below, via the BWF (.pdf files, external links) :