Gopi seeded 4th: World GP finals

The Indian, who will be playing in his first World Grand Prix finals, will face 1999 runner-up Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia.

Goipchand is drawn in the Group C along with 1999 runner-up Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia, Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng of China and British number one Richard Vaughan of Wales.

The Brunei Grand Prix finals is a coveted six-star tournament with the top 16 men's singles players, top 12 women's singles players, and top eight pairs in men's, women's and mixed doubles -- a total of 70 participants contesting. The players are invited to play as per the world ranking lists of December 14, 2000, with each participant guaranteed a share of the US $250,000 prize-money.

China has got three of the top seeded slots, with World Championships silver medallist Zhou Mi in the women's singles, Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei in women's doubles and Olympic and World champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling in the mixed doubles.

Peter Gade tops the seeding list in a strong men's singles line-up. The reigning champion will surely be out to avenge his loss to Hendrawan in the World Championships final in June by bagging this world title, but he will first have to overcome Xia Xuanze, Wong Choong Hann and Budi Santoso in Group A if he's to progress to the semi-finals.

World champion Hendrawan is drawn in Group B with an off-form Roslin Hashim of Malaysia, Denmark's Anders Boesen and Luo Yigang of China.

After winning the Malaysia Open title last week, Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia will be a strong contender for the title, especially as he seems to be comfortable with the new 5x7 scoring system which he played under to win the Malaysia Open, and which will also be used in Brunei.

Ong will play in Group D with second seed Chen Hong, Kenneth Jonassen and Vladislav Druzchenko.

The Chinese look set to dominate the women's singles event, occupying four places in the 12-player field. World Championships silver medallist Zhou Mi is the top seed, and will take on Mia Audina of The Netherlands, and Ellen Angelina of Indonesia on Group A, with second seed and Olympic silver medallist Camilla Martin drawn in Group D alongside Kanako Yonekura of Japan and Dai Yun of China.

In the men's doubles, Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan re-form their Olympic gold medal-winning partnership in a bid to defend their title. They'll be playing in Group B with Denmark's second seeds Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Lars Paaske, China's Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun and Brunei wildcards Fadzli Hj Masri and Ermadena Hj Talip.

Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugesen are the top seeds, drawn in Group A with teammates Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen, Michal Logosz and Robert Mateusiak of Poland and Indonesia's Halim Haryanto and Sigit Budiarto.

Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei are tipped to walk away with the women's doubles title.

Olympic and World champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling will be hot favourites going into the mixed doubles competition. Drawn into Group A, the Chinese pair's strongest challenge in the round-robin stage will come from Denmark's Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager. Frederik Bergstrom and Jenny Karlsson of Sweden, and Thailand's Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and Saralee Thungthongkam will also compete in Group A.

Second seeds Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen have been drawn in Group B with Indonesia's 1999 silver medallists Tri Kusharyanto and Minarti Timur, Chen Qiqiu and Chen Lin of China, and England's Ian Sullivan and Gail Emms.