The season’s top performing figures have been shortlisted as nominees for the prestigious BWF Player of the Year awards for 2022.

The annual awards ceremony will be held on Monday 5 December in conjunction with the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2022 gala dinner.

Nominees were selected based on performances in the 2021/2022 season from 1 November 2021 to 31 October 2022 and recognises achievements of our elite badminton and Para badminton players and pairs in eight categories.

Olympic and world champion Viktor Axelsen, 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew, and Asian champion Lee Zii Jia are the three nominees for Male Player of the Year, while world No.2 An Se Young vies with 2021 and 2022 world champion Akane Yamaguchi, and world No.4 Tai Tzu Ying for Female Player of the Year.

The Pair of the Year category will be contested by Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan, Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong.

The Most Improved Player of the Year will see four contenders: Thomas Cup hero Prannoy H. S., Japan Open champions Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong, and four-time winners on the circuit this year, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

Young talents Alex Lanier, Kodai Naraoka and Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati are contenders for the Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year Award.

In Para badminton, the BWF Awards Commission gave special allowance for the BWF Para Badminton World Championships 2022, which concluded on 6 November, to be included in the list of eligible tournaments.

There are three award categories, with six nominees in each, and features several Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games gold medallists including Daiki Kajiwara, Cheah Liek Hou, Pramod Bhagat, Lucas Mazur, and Sarina Satomi.