Score results

Score results

Jiaming TAO [CHN] [CHN]
Yawen ZHANG [CHN] [CHN]
-
[INA] [INA] Hendra Aprida GUNAWAN [5]
[INA] [INA] Vita MARISSA
21-11 21-14

Eriko HIROSE [JPN] [JPN]
-
[CHN] [CHN] Lin WANG [2]
21-19 15-21 21-19

Chong Wei LEE [1] [MAS] [MAS]
-
[CHN] [CHN] Jin CHEN [5]
21-14 16-21 21-15

Eei Hui CHIN [3] [MAS] [MAS]
Pei Tty WONG [MAS] [MAS]
-
[TPE] [TPE] Chia Chi CHOU
[TPE] [TPE] Chia Chen YANG
21-12 21-12

Kean Keat KOO [1] [MAS] [MAS]
Boon Heong TAN [MAS] [MAS]
-
[ENG] [ENG] Anthony CLARK [7]
[ENG] [ENG] Nathan ROBERTSON
21-12 23-25 21-11

Hung Ling CHEN [TPE] [TPE]
Chia Chi CHOU [TPE] [TPE]
-
[INA] [INA] Flandy LIMPELE
[TPE] [TPE] Wen Hsing CHEN
21-10 19-21 21-13

Thomas LAYBOURN [DEN] [DEN]
Kamilla RYTTER JUHL [DEN] [DEN]
-
[ENG] [ENG] Nathan ROBERTSON
[ENG] [ENG] Jenny WALLWORK
21-11 23-21

Jin MA [1] [CHN] [CHN]
Xiaoli WANG [CHN] [CHN]
-
[KOR] [KOR] Min Jung KIM
[KOR] [KOR] Sun Young PARK
21-19 21-13

Biao CHAI [CHN] [CHN]
Nan ZHANG [CHN] [CHN]
-
[JPN] [JPN] Naoki KAWAMAE
[JPN] [JPN] Shoji SATO
21-11 21-16

Peter Hoeg GADE [4] [DEN] [DEN]
-
[THA] [THA] Tanongsak SAENSOMBOONSUK
21-15 21-13

Tien Minh NGUYEN [VIE] [VIE]
-
[DEN] [DEN] Jan O JORGENSEN
21-17 22-20
Xin WANG [CHN] [CHN]
-
[IND] [IND] Saina NEHWAL [7]
14-21 21-8 21-11

Zhendong GUO [6] [CHN] [CHN]
Chen XU [CHN] [CHN]
-
[JPN] [JPN] Kenichi HAYAKAWA
[JPN] [JPN] Kenta KAZUNO
21-17 23-21

Kyung Eun JUNG [KOR] [KOR]
Hyun Young YOO [KOR] [KOR]
-
[JPN] [JPN] Mizuki FUJII [7]
[JPN] [JPN] Reika KAKIIWA
21-14 21-16

Sudket PRAPAKAMOL [8] [THA] [THA]
Saralee THOUNGTHONGKAM [THA] [THA]
-
[KOR] [KOR] Sung Hyun KO
[KOR] [KOR] Jung Eun HA
21-13 21-14

Youn Joo BAE [KOR] [KOR]
-
[KOR] [KOR] Ji Hyun SUNG
21-13 21-19

Boonsak PONSANA [THA] [THA]
-
[MAS] [MAS] Wei Feng CHONG
21-14 21-9

Alvent Yulianto CHANDRA [4] [INA] [INA]
Hendra Aprida GUNAWAN [INA] [INA]
-
[USA] [USA] Howard BACH
[USA] [USA] Tony GUNAWAN
21-15 21-18

Jing DU [2] [CHN] [CHN]
Yang YU [CHN] [CHN]
-
[BUL] [BUL] Petya NEDELCHEVA [6]
[RUS] [RUS] Anastasia RUSSKIKH
21-14 21-5

Yihan WANG [1] [CHN] [CHN]
-
[CHN] [CHN] Yanjiao JIANG [5]
21-13 21-17

TAUFIK HIDAYAT DIPANGGIL KE PELATNAS

Jelang babak kualifikasi Piala Thomas dan Uber Cup 2010 yang akan digelar mulai 21-28 Februari 2010 di Nakorn Ratchasima, Thailand, PB PBSI telah mempersiapkan 18 atlet bulutangkis dari 14 atlet yang bakal berlaga, masing-masing 8 putra dan 10 putri. Sedangkan 4 lainnya sebagai cadangan.

Menurut I Made Bagus Oka, Wakil Ketua Umum PB PBSI, skuad Merah Putih memang sengaja dilebihkan sebagai upaya antisipasi dini jika kemudian ada atlet yang mendadak tidak bisa diturunkan nanti.

“Di sektor tunggal putra, kami lebihkan satu atlet. Sedangkan putri, kami lebihkan satu atlet di tunggal dan satu pasangan di nomor ganda. Tapi untuk menempatkan siapa yang bakal duduk di bangku cadangan, tergantung hasil akhir latihan yang sampai kini masih berlangsung di pelatnas,” kata Oka

Di tunggal putra, terpilih Simon Santoso yang baru saja sukses menuai ranking pertama Piala Panglima TNI 2010, disusul Sonny Dwi Kuncoro, Tommy Sugiarto dan atlet non pelatnas Taufik Hidayat.

KIDO/HENDRA DIBUTUHKAN

Pasangan Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan masih tetap menjadi andalan utama dari sektor ganda bersama pasangan Rian Sukmawan dan Yonathan Suryatama.

Untuk kembali ‘mendapatkan’ Kido/Hendra, pihak PBSI harus beberapa kali mengadakan pembicaraan serius menyusul rencana hengkangnya pasangan pemetik emas di Olimpiade Beijing 2008 itu dari Pelatnas. “Terus terang, kita masih membutuhkan tenaga Kido dan Hendra. Dan ternyata mereka cukup mengerti dan siap membela tim Merah Putih,” ujar Oka.

Di bagian putri, Aprilia Yuswandari langsung mendapat kepercayaan masuk dalam skuad Uber Cup 2010 menyusul hasil gemilang yang direngkuhnya sebagai juara Panglima TNI. Selama ini pebulutangkis asal Bantul tersebut selalu ditempatkan di lapis dua pelatnas utama. Disusul Maria Kristin, Adrianti Firdasari dan Maria Febe dari Klub Djarum.

Di nomor ganda, PBSI menyiapkan 3 pasangan, yaitu Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda, Meliana Jauhari/Shendy Puspa Irawati dan Lilyana Natsir dengan Aneke Feinya.

“Saya sendiri yang akan memimpin rombongan beserta beberapa pelatih seperti Agus, Marlev dan beberapa ofisial lainnya,” ujar Oka lagi.

Berdasar info kalender BWF 2010, final piala Thomas dan Uber Cup akan digelar mulai 6 sampai 15 Mei 2010 di Malaysia. Dengan begitu Malaysia sebagai tuan rumah dipastikan langsung masuk ke putaran final bersama China sebagai juara bertahan. Secara otomatis Asia hanya akan memperebutkan 4 tiket tersisa dari 6 jatah tiket zona Asia.

"OLYMPIC SOLIDARITY" TOWARDS 2012 AND BEYOND

"OLYMPIC SOLIDARITY" TOWARDS 2012 AND BEYOND

As we fast approach the second year of the Olympic Games quadrennial cycle, the BWF Development Department hosted a key forum in Lausanne recently with the theme of “Development Solidarity”.

Bring together key stakeholders in the sport from each continent, from BWF Member Associations and experts and practitioners from other sports, Development Committee Chair, David Cabello and Director of Development Gunther Huber hosted 4 days of thought provoking forums, workshops and planning sessions following the key areas of the Development Working Groups:

· Development status of member associations

· School Sport Badminton: to become the best racket sport in schools

· High Performance Systems in Badminton: to create pathways to develop Badminton from grass roots to (inter)-national elite level

· BWF Coach Education programmes: the coach, key of success in sport?

In opening the 4 day session and in welcoming the delegates to Lausanne Andrew Ryan, former BWF Executive Director and current Executive Director of ASOIF, focused on a new trend for the IOC – that of coaches and the important role they play in sport. The IOC which unveiled a new Commission at the Olympic Congress held in Copenhagen in October.

“The IOC has taken the decision to set up a Training and Coaching Commission, thus setting the trend to be followed by the Olympic Movement for the forthcoming years, after having spent many previous years centred on Athletes. This new trend should be watched by IFs which should accordingly give importance to Coach Education in the future” Ryan said.

One of the themes of the four days was coach education and development and the role of this at the various levels within the sport. The status of development of Member Associations and the diversity that exists within badminton worldwide from under developed to highly developed badminton systems was also a fey focus and a key concern of BWF President Dr Kang.

After his re-election in May 2009, BWF President, Dr Kang, reminded the delegates of the importance of development and the importance of this and BWF’s role in developing the sport.

“Development is one area that we want to focus on and we need to look at how to serve the developing and yet to be developed nations better”.

Representatives from Olympic Solidarity made a very informative contribution, explaining how the system of grants works through the National Olympic Committees:

“Any Member Association of Badminton wanting Olympic Solidarity grants should contact with the NOC of its country and apply for it, as it is the only way for an IF to obtain such help.”

The wide panel of experts invited to take part in these meetings from badminton and also from other IFs, such as Archery and Athletics Europe, contributed to the debates, discussions and planning for the future. A long period of work will now begin, to develop collaboration between Member Associations, Continental Confederations and BWF.

“A new era has started which we could call “Badminton Solidarity” and it will take years of careful planning to develop Badminton all over the world with the contribution of all countries and continents. We aim at making our sport one of the most popular and practised worldwide” said David Cabello who will report to the BWF Council and Executive Board in Bali later this month.

Danes on a roll, Koo-Tan stunned

YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2009 - Danes on a roll, Koo-Tan stunned

Peter Gade keeps enjoying his Kong Kong journey and will be facing Kenichi Tago in the semi-final. His compatriots Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen also got their ticket for the last four.

A good night for Denmark in Hong Kong. It all started with Peter Gade, who beat Simon Santoso to get his ticket for the semi-final the last Super Series Gade would play in this year as he is to skip China next week.

And the Dane knew he had a chance against the one who had taken the Denmark Open title – as a symbol. He just had no idea it would go so fast, as he hinted right after his match. “I knew I would have to keep pressuring him until he bowed. And tonight, it happened much sooner than I expected,” said the Dane who was happily surprised of the short fight he had to put on - 35 minutes – for a 21/12 – 21/8 win.

“He is a good player and I knew that I had to be careful against him. He’s had a great past few weeks and he is amongst the players who are now able to beat the top ones. Nowadays, the men’s singles is like that – many new youngsters can just come in and beat the 4 or 5 players who used to win everything all the time. And I was ready for that tonight.”

But it is Kenichi Tago that the Dane will meet on Saturday, as Chan Yan Kit gave everything in his 21/19 first game victory but had no energy left for the second and third, which Tago took easily 21/9 – 21/12. Tago is yet to beat Gade in an international competition, hence, the Dane will be clear favourite to take on either Bao Chunlai or Lee Chong Wei on Sunday.

In the doubles, the old timers shone in Hong Kong, first the duo of Paaske and Rasmussen edged out Singapore’s youngsters Saputra/Wijaya in straight games, making it a good day for Denmark, while Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong were shown the exit by a pair they know well for having trained with them for many years – Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook. Choong and Lee beat their compatriots 21/12 – 21/7.

England saw the end of their run as well, with the mixed doubles pair of Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg playing well below par. Clark had already given its best against Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae of Korea in the men’s doubles, and the constant pressure put on by the Polish team of Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Kostiuczyk was just too much – the Polish came away with a 21/13 – 21/16 victory and will face Fang Chieh Min/Wang Pei Rong of Chinese Taipei, while a rematch of the French Open will occur in the other mixed doubles semi final between Hendra Aprida Gunawan/Vita Marissa and Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir.

In the women’s singles, once again Wang Xin proved her talent by beating 5^th seed Pi Hongyan of France. After a terrible start where the Chinese gave in 10 points on direct faults, she was back in the match and her left arm worked wonders, creating difficulties for the French to read her fast and efficient game.

It would have been a lesson of badminton, had Pi let go when trailing 13/21 – 8/13, but the French kept fighting, which provided the large audience with a beautiful end of second game.

Both shuttlers leveled up at 18/18, but Pi had given too much energy to catch back and lacked stamina in the end, while her younger opponent was still very fit and took the last three points to enter the semi final. She will play against another Wang – Yihan, who beat the current world champion Lu Lan in straight games 21/17 – 21/15.

Paaske-Rasmussen want to regain winning ways

YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2009 - Paaske-Rasmussen want to regain winning ways

The Danes, once again, shone at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium when Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen and Peter Gade qualified for the YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open men’s doubles and men’s singles final respectively.

“We want the names of Paaske and Rasmussen to be on the winning roll again”. Jonas Rasmussen couldn’t be more explicit on his target together with partner Lars Paaske. It’s been a while since the two Danish veterans have stepped onto the highest podium spot – more than one year exactly as their last success was in Japan in September 2008.

Since then, a semi-final in Korea and Singapore this year, but no chance at clinching a title yet, slipping just outside the top 8 with their younger compatriots Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen stepping in as Denmark’s best pair at the moment.

“We’ve had few bad results lately, especially with our outing at the world championships, but overall, we haven’t lost to weak pairs and we’ve tried to keep strong mentally in order to get back. There are ups and downs but I believe we have shown that we were still up there with the best. And being in the final of a Super Series again feels nice,” explained Jonas Rasmussen.

The duo played an uneven game today, just like their opponents, mainly due to the windy conditions in the hall. “The fans were laughing at us in the first game as we were making easy mistakes, but we have had the experience of such a venue before as we’ve played so many tournaments, that we know that the next game would be easier. Maybe a younger pair would lose its composure, but both pairs knew what it’s like and in the second game it was the Malaysians the fans made fun of,” said Rasmussen, before Paaske added. “Of course, people don’t realize what’s going on on court. The spectators in the hall, but also people at home watching TV, think “what a hell are they doing” ?” laughed Paaske.

And it is exactly what happened, with a clean sweep for Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook in the first game – 21/13 before the Danes scooped the second one 21/11. “For the third game, it was all about scoring as many points as we could on the bad side, because we knew that we would play on the “small court” after the break,” said Paaske.

“I think the points we scored from 4/10 to 8/10 made a huge difference as we didn’t have so many points to get back even,“ added Rasmussen after winning the third game 21/17.

The Danish duo had been the second good news for Denmark after Peter Gade had already gotten his ticket to the final. He and Kenichi Tago from Japan were expecting a bit of change in the drift as the court position had been changed completely, with the new set up having courts face the other way.

But they probably didn’t expect that much of a change. “It’s the most windy place I’ve played in so far. Just like the most windy days in Singapore. But I know this has to be if we want to play in a reasonable temperature. We just have to get on with it,” said Gade.

“I knew exactly what to do and the thing I avoided was to lose focus. I kept putting pressure on him at all times – this is how I’ve beaten him in the past and I knew I could pull that again today if I remained concentrated,” added gade after winning 21/12 – 21/13 in 35 minutes.

In the whole China affair in the women’s singles, Wang Lin lost to Jiang Yanjiao as the left hander, wearing a fitting purple shirt was more consistent and played around with the drift more than her opponent to clinch the victory 21/18 – 21/14.

The next match got the fans going when Olympic Champions Du Jing and Yu Yang were facing Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui of Malaysia. And the Chinese were not far from bowing to their opponents, when they trailed 18/21 – 15/17. Before the eyes of Gong Ruina – the former World champion, now living in Hong Kong – the Chinese duo hung in there and managed to win the second game and the third, earning their spot in the finals, which had – on Saturday afternoon – been sold out except for a handful of tickets only.

LI-NING CHINA OPEN 2009

LI-NING CHINA OPEN 2009 - Final countdown begins for SS Finals

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, 6^thseed, and currently 9^th 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, 10^th 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, 5^th 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 and Yao Jie will not participate in the event, as Yao is still injured.

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 9^th and 8^th 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.

YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2009

YONEX-SUNRISE HONG KONG OPEN 2009 - Polish stunner

Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiucyz made a stunning impression by clinching their first ever Super Series title over double world champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir while Lee Chong Wei also signaled his return with a bang.,

Six months ago, Nadiezda Kostiuczyk was at home, doing nothing. And hating to sit around while she could have been practicing as hard as ever, but a second hip injury performed in March meant she was to wait a little while longer before she could resume training – she had been out since the 2008 Olympics with a recurrent injury which forbade her to play.

Little did she know that she would enjoy an amazing evening in Hong Kong, less than 6 months after her second operation, she would be stepping on the highest step of a Super Series podium for the first time in her career.

The Polish pair of Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk were facing Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir – a pair they had never beaten in the past. Yet, Mateusiak thought they had their chances. “First of all, we talked about it and realized that except for one exception, we had never lost any finals before and even if those were not Super Series final, we took it as a good sign.

“Secondly, we had beaten this week the English pair of(Donna) Kellogg and (Anthony) Clark – even if he was obviously tired after his men’s doubles – but it was the first time, so, we believed we had our chances today,” hinted Mateusiak.

“For me, playing again is just amazing and like a lot of other people who have come back from injury, I am just happy to be on court and to be able to play. I do not take it for granted anymore, and then, it takes off the pressure from our shoulders,” added Nadiezda.

The Poles stayed very focus and were more consistent than their opponents throughout the game. The key of the match was certainly when the Indonesians led 20/18 and failed to convert. Instead, the Polish got back and scooped the first game 22/20.

It was then a whole different story. “They started feeling insecure; we could feel it after the first game. It’s was really the turning point I think,” said Mateusiak, still excited few minutes after the match.

The second game was even until 10/10, but with no real solution for the Indonesians, they lost track in the second part of the game, letting the Polish pair up by 6 points – the gap was then too big and Mateusiak kept hitting hard from the back while Kostiuczyk worked wonders at the net.

On their second match point, they scored for their first ever Super Series win, falling into each other’s arms while the fans were stunned.

Denmark was hoping for two Golds in Hong Kong. They will leaving the city with two silver instead as the world ranking was respected in both the singles and the doubles. There was not much difference between Peter Gade and Lee Chong Wei, but the Malaysian played a bit better at key points, on top of being lucky.

“In the third game, I was leading 3/0 and he came back thanks to three lucky shots with one behind his back. It could have gone the other way then and made a difference. But Chong Wei is one of the two best players in the world right now with Lin Dan, and I proved that I was not that far this week. I still have the motivation in me to win the big ones and I am overall satisfied with my performance this week. Now I need to get back to my family whom I miss and get ready to compete in the Super Series finals,” said Gade, after his 13/21 – 21/13 – 16/21 loss to the Malaysian.

Same fate with Jonas Rasmussen and Lars Paaske, who were mentioning the night before how one result from a teammate could affect the performance of the others competing the same day. It turned out to be true on Sunday as they failed to take their first title since the Yonex Japan Open 2008.

The first game against Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung went smoothly for the Danes, who applied the tactic which had seen the mighty Koreans not winning a medal in the Olympics last year. But after a fragile start, the Korean duo started getting back into the game, thanks to some inspired shots by Yong Dae on top of the power delivered by Jae Sung.

The second game went Korea’s way and the decider was a one sided story for the title holders, with Lee and Jung ending their journey in Hong Kong with a 13/21 – 21/15 – 21/8 success.

China clinched the other two titles, as expected as it was all China girls involved In the other finals. Wang Yihan was delighted to beat Jiang Yanjiao in 39 minutes with a score of 21/13 – 21/15, showing what kind of form she’s in few days before her home event in Shanghai – the city she was born in.

Olympic Champions Du Jing and Yu Yang, on their hand, failed to deliver in spite of being higher ranked than their compatriots Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli. After a beautiful battle, the youngsters took it 16/21 – 21/19 -21/12.

The Chinese will all be present in this week’s China Open, including Lin Dan, while some of the heroes of this year’s Hong Kong open will go home, such as Taufik and Peter Gade, who will meet again before the end of the year for the Super Series finals.