Some noteable players competing this year, so it's worth a look. These include, HK Vittinghus, Casten Mogensen, Robert Matuesiak, Kevin Cordon, Michelle Li, Ivan Sozonov, Vladimir Ivanov, Febbi Agunini etc etc Draw can be found here: http://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=0A3291D7-8F84-4E2D-8E05-A92056098502 Don't know who carries out the draws for this, but it seems that all the good teams (or those with great players in them) are ALL in Group D. The winner of the tournament should come from this group.
If there is any tournament that is not important it is this one (for some clubs/countries it does mean far more than for the/most others). The most interesting part of it is to see if the danish players listed actually show up. Previous editions they have either not shown up or sent replacements (as you can notice it says: "fixed player - no"). I don't know what "ALL good teams" are but there are only two good teams in Group D
Should add it is usually cost related if they don't show up. So just had a little look and seems all the stars for TSS will be playing if they can raise enough funds. They have set up some sort of special additional sponsorship deal to raise some money for attending this tournament. Estimated cost to attend for them (in full strentgh?)~ $24,000USD apparently (140.000 DKK). In the deal, with a wine seller, 10DKK of each bottle sold will go into the funding for the trip ... [Probably have to pay the players extra to get at that cost number .] There is no date on that news item but apparently two more of their main sponsors have decided to fund the trip so they will indeed play with: Joachim Fischer, Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, Robert Mateusiak, Kim Bruun, Mattias Borg, Nadia Zieba, mie Schjøtt-Kristensen, Britta Andersen, Mette Poulsen and Cecilie Sentow. Coach: Michael Kjeldsen No Mogensen and Meulendijks ...
It might not be important but it still is interesting to follow It will be interesting to see if they show, HKV is injured (I believe) and some will be at the Thomas Cup of course And arguably there are 4 good teams in Group D (2 great, 2 good) Russian Team, Primorye, are really strong (IvanovSozanov/Sorokina/Vislova/Prokopenko) Danish Team, SKælSkør Slegese, have HKV, Mogensen, Bruun, Judith, Mateusiak, Zieba Itallian Team, Diessa Mediterranea, have Kevin Cordon, Michelle Li. Other teams not as strong. But they still have good players. If you look in the other groups, the teams featured aren't as strong as Danish or Russian. The defending champions from the Netherlands will have a tough time defending their title if the players mentioned show.
Nope, league style: 2 MS, 2WS, and 1 of each doubles discipline. So a team having one good man and lady isn't automatically a "strong team" ... (as the the TS link can show you). But of course Group D is the strongest group overall, but #1 and #2 advance so ... Surprised to find out no German team this year.
Kevin Cordon can be very inconsistent, he beat Martins & Heineger but lost to Sozonov and now he beat Hans-Kristian Vittinghus! Either HKV might be fatigued from all the travel recently, but have to give credit to Cordon. Danish team still should win this match though...
Primorye (Russia) vs Team Skælskør-Slagelse (Denmark) in the final... if I had to bet, I'd say Skælskør-Slagelse to win, but it seems that it will be interesting
Nah the Russian Team are far too strong, they have good players for all the events, I can only see one outcome for this match apart from MS1 and XD where TSS should win.
Wow, Ivanov just retired in his MS and he won't play MD. Was anybody watching the match? Is he injured or something serious or just being careful?
I think he twisted his ankle a little bit. Don't think it's too serious. At least he was able to play on for a while, but decided to give up after not getting into the match anymore.