Philadelphia, PA – Since badminton became an official Olympic sport in 1992, it's been traditionally dominated by the Chinese with a leading 30 total medals. In 2008, the host county won eight of a possible 15 medals, and the Chinese figure to have another big haul of hardware at the London Games.
Wembley Arena will host the world's best badminton players with the competition slated from July 28-Aug. 5.
A total of 86 men and 86 women will be entered in badminton, which is comprised of five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles.
Lin Dan, nicknamed Super Dan, is a four-time world champion in men's singles, and is the defending gold medalist. Chen Long will also be a part of the event for China.
China's Zhang Ning, 37, won the last two Olympic gold medals in women's singles but has since retired and is now coaching Wang Yihan in her bid to win gold for the country. Wang Shixian and Wang Xin are former world No. 1 women's singles players also on China's Olympic roster
Howard Bach, Tony Gunawan and Rena Wang are on the U.S. roster. Bach and Gunawan will team up for men's doubles, while Wang will compete in women's singles.
This is the third consecutive U.S. Olympic team for Bach, who made it to the quarterfinals in men's doubles for years ago.
The hope, though, lies with Gunawan, who captured Olympic gold in men's doubles for Indonesia at the 2000 Games in Sydney. But he was sworn is as a U.S. citizen last September and has a good history with Bach, winning the first ever World Championships gold medal for the U.S. in 2005.
Wang, 20, will compete in her first Olympic Games.
Michelle Li, who was born in Hong Kong, will represent Canada along with Alexandra Bruce, Grace Gao and Tobias Ng. Li will partner with Bruce in women's doubles, while Gao and Ng team up in mixed doubles.
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