KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shuttlers will be making a "strong presence" at the World Tour Finals (WTF) in Hangzhou on Dec 11-15 in terms of seeding.
Of the country's six Malaysian representatives at the lucrative season-ending event which offers US$2.5 million (RM11.20 million) in prize money, three pairs will be seeded.
Mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai (world No. 10) and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (world No. 8) will be seeded second and third respectively while men's pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (world No. 7) will be seeded fourth.
The other Malaysian challengers — men's singles Lee Zii Jia (world No. 8), men's pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (world No. 5) and women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (world No. 6) — won't get special status in the draw.
Independent pair Sze Fei-Izzuddin and BAM's Tang Jie-Ee Wei will be making their WTF debuts.
The final list of qualifiers were based on the World Tour rankings on Tuesday. Pearly-Thinaah missed out on the top four seedings after finishing fifth.
The men's singles winner will get US$200,000 (RM900,000) while the doubles champions will take home US$210,000. Even a singles shuttler who finishes last in the group will earn US$15,000 while a doubles pair in the same position will earn US$17,500.
