LI-NING CHINA OPEN 2009 - Final countdown begins for SS Finals
The Li-Ning China Open which kicked off in
One last chance to make the cut. That what was probably on the mind of players who flew from Hong Kong to
Several players and pairs are already assured of their ticket for the US$500 000 Finals, but some will need to perform well in
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
In order to do that, he will have to beat Andrew Smith of
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
Top seed Lee Chong Wei will also have a tough first round in the name of Jan Jorgensen, the new jewel of
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
Tine Rasmussen, who is also assured of participating in the Finals, heads to
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
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
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,
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
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
For Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung, this event will be the perfect way to get even with
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