Yesterday, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) released the seedings for the 12-team competition and Malaysia were seeded third after China and Indonesia.

Denmark and South Korea are the fourth and fifth seeds respectively.

When the Finals were held in Malaysia the last two times, the home side ended up with contrasting results.

At 1992, Malaysia emerged as the champions at Stadium Negara but in 2000 they were booed by the fans after their failure to make the top-four at the Putra Stadium.

National singles coach Misbun Sidek said that battle for honours will be keen among the five giants – China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Denmark and South Korea.

“Defending champions China are certainly the favourites as they have a balanced team. But one cannot rule out the others,” said Misbun.

He said that he was not too surprised that all the five countries would be banking on their seasoned campaigners as the first singles players.

China will bank on Lin Dan while the top singles players for the other four seeded countries are Taufik Hidayat (Ina), Lee Chong Wei (Mas), Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) and Park Sung-hwan (Kor).

“None of the young aspiring players have taken over. In fact, these players have been in the picture for some time and can still be counted on,” he added.

With many countries opting for scratch partnerships and trying out new pairs, the men’s doubles competition in the world premier event could be an interesting affair.

For the Uber Cup, Malaysia have been seeded sixth. The top five teams are defending champions China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Denmark.

Malaysia’s women team, led by Wong Mew Choo, have a chance to make the semi-finals but it will depend very much on the draw that will be conducted on Monday.

For the record, only three nations China, Indonesia and Malaysia have won the Thomas Cup since its inception in 1948 while the Uber Cup has only four winners – USA, Japan, China and Indonesia – since the tournament began in 1956.