The Li-Ning China Open which kicked off in Shanghai this Tuesday with the qualification rounds will be the last chance for a player or pair to earn points to qualify for Super Series finals to be held in Johor Baru, Malaysia, from December 2-6.
One last chance to make the cut. That what was probably on the mind of players who flew from Hong Kong to Shanghai, this week end, during the short flight that took them from Hong Kong to China’s fashion capital – Shanghai.
Several players and pairs are already assured of their ticket for the US$500 000 Finals, but some will need to perform well in China this week to make it into the top 8 of the dedicated ranking – which takes in account only the points given in the 12-leg Super Series.
If Peter Gade, Lee Chong Wei, and Lin Dan are already assured of travelling to Johor Baru, other big names may not. Taufik Hidayat is only 500 points ahead of Park Sung Hwan and less than a thousand ahead of his compatriot Sony Dwi Kuncoro.
As the 2004 Olympic champion is not travelling to China this week, he could see his closest rivals overtake him and qualify. It’s especially true of Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who could be the second – and last – Indonesian to qualify should he reach a higher stage.
In order to do that, he will have to beat Andrew Smith of England, then, either Shon Wan Ho of Korea or Arvind Bhat of India before facing Chen Jin, who is the No 4 seed.
However, Indonesians have yet to confirm whether they will be participating in the Finals after their governing body enhanced the importance of the upcoming SEA Games.
For Park Sung Hwan, 6thseed, and currently 9th on the Super Series Ranking, his first round might be crucial – even if the fact that three Chinese are ahead of him, he might get him into the invitation list for the finals.
But the odds are such that the Korean will be facing his direct opponent Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong, 10th on the Super Series Ranking, and who ended the Korean’s run in Hong Kong last week. It will be revenge time for the Korean.
Top seed Lee Chong Wei will also have a tough first round in the name of Jan Jorgensen, the new jewel of Denmark – the first player in over 10 years to have beaten Peter Gade on the International stage.
Jorgensen will have had a little more time to rest as he was ousted earlier in the Hong Kong Open last week while Chong Wei had to go the full distance – clinching the gold medal on Sunday.
Amongst the other mouth watering starters, the two friends Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai were drawn to play each other in the worst possible draw for China. Kenichi Tago, meant to play Simon Santoso, as well as Hafiz Hashim, Kuan Beng Hong all withdrew from the tournament as did Gade and Hidayat.
Tine Rasmussen, who is also assured of participating in the Finals, heads to Shanghai with some video footage to look at – she was present in the Hong Kong Final Open, in the stands, recording the match between Wang Yihan and Jiang Yanjiao.
She could be meeting again Wang in the final as they are both top seeds on either side of the draw. Rasmussen starts her tournament with Ai Goto, the ever running Japanese, while the worst draw for the seeded players is awarded to Pi Hongyan, 5th seeds and meant to play one of the two uprising “Wangs” – Shixian – in the first round.
If the 8 players are almost set to be picked, the only one hoping for a last minute chance would be Salakjit Ponsana, but the tiny Thai has to face Jiang Yanjiao in the first round. But new faces could be appearing as it is usually the case in China events.
This Tuesday, youngster Li Xueri could be one of them as she qualified for the main draw to face Wang Chen, representing Hong Kong but originally from Shanghai. Zhou Mi will not participate in the event.
The Chinese couldn’t hope for a worse draw in the men’s doubles as well – the first round will see Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng take on their partners Guo Zhengdong and Xu Chen. And, as if seeing the best two pairs of the same country play each other in the first round wasn’t bad enough, the two pairs are hand in hand in the race for the Super Series qualification, at 9th and 8th spots respectively.
This means that, no matter what, China will have only one men’s doubles pair in Johor Baru. Should Cai and Fu make it to the quarter final, they are likely to play against Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae of Korea, winner last week in Hong Kong.
Korea’s in luck as the new pairing of Cho Gun Who and Shin Baek Chol will not have to face Malaysia’s Zakry Abdul Latif and Faruzizuan Tazari as the latter withdrew as did some of their compatriots. Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan will have another chance at getting even with Alvent Yulianto and Chandra, who beat them last week – the two pairs are meant to meet in the quarter finals.
Top seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong start of their Li-Ning China Open against the young Chinese duo of Liu Xiaolong and Xiu Zihan.
If the women’s doubles is usually a done deal for China, this should be even more true this week, as no less than 14 pairs from mainland China have entered the draw. Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei are top seeds and could face either compatriots Zhang/Tian in the quarter, or Korea’s Kim/Park.
Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty have been quite lucky with the draw, with only one out of the 14 pairs in their quarters. Their strongest opponents should be either India’s Ashwini Ponnappa/Jwala Gutta or England’s Jenny Wallwork/Gabrielle White.
For Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung, this event will be the perfect way to get even with Indonesia’s Fran Kurniawan and Pia Zabedah Bernadet, who had stunned the Olympic champions last week : they will play each other in the first round.
The only seeded team to have withdrawn is Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen, but all eyes will be on Liliyana Natsir and her new partner Devin Lahardi who replaces the evergreen Nova Widianto.
Source : www.internationalbadminton.org
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