Link is here http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=C7DAD27B-B6D2-4FF4-B483-3ED9B849EE94 Points of interest: Lin Dan in the 3rd qualifying group.. meeting Hidayat in the first round then LCW in the second.
Agree, interesting drawing... LD will take on world junior champ Kento Momota in first match here. Then, barring any upsets TH and LCW will be his opponent in preliminaries round, R/32 and R/16 respectively. BWF link : http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=449919&dl=1 Tommy once again will face Chen Long at R/32. Yup, as he announced earlier, http://www.badzine.net/news/taufik-to-stop-after-indonesia-open-2013/21188/ TH won INA Open 6 times (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006).
This is interesting, see if TH will like to have LD or LCW (if he fight hard to get pass LD) as his last opponent in a formal tournament of his badminton career. Or is LD keen to be TH's last opponent or not (if he could not even pass the qualification rounds )?
What a draw, TH's farewell tournament,his swan song, and he has to face Lin Dan in R1. Sigh for both of them.
No, TH has not to face LD in R1. TH just would face LD in R1 if only LD can pass the qualification round.
if this is Lin Dan to face P Gade's last match at the Danish Open I'm fairly confident that he will "let it go" as a gift to Peter. Since this will be TH's last t'ment at home as well, will LD also "let it go"? I'll say 50/50 chance he will. First, I'm sure they both respect each other as the best of their time so why not let TH has his last glory at home, and with possible LCW waiting at the second round it wouldn't be that appetising for LD either.
I think LD has had a better relationship with PG than TH although they have both calmed down over the years. I don't think LD will give him a free win if he gets past qualis though. Also Gade beat LD in an exhibition match, not a tournament if I remember correctly.
I also think LD will give the match to TH. Probably LCW will do the same. People come to say farewell to TH, and they don't want to ruin the party.
May be LD wont show up so Qiao Bin can go to Q and he may face TH instead...it is just crazy 2 time OG and winners of WC/AE has to go thru Qualification.
One thing's for certain - Istora Senayan will be packed to the rafters from Day 1. And Tuesday is gonna be total bedlam. Wish I were there.....
Yup, agree. It's so insulting for LD, the World and Olympic Champion to play in the qualification. What if he loses in qualification? He will skip tournaments which he always does.
Its not really insulting to LD. Unless he chooses to personally look at it that way, in which case that's his problem... Its how all tournaments are organised. If you are ranked high enough to go into the main draw, that's good; otherwise, you work your way through the qualifiers. I don't think LD would be expecting to be given a free pass to every tournament on the back of his past performances; he must have to be aware of all this before he went AWOL -he's played pro badminton for more than 10 years. Actually I like it. It brings even more excitement and buzz to a tournament that is already the most exciting event in the entire calendar!
So, unlike all past tournaments, there will be a pack stadium on day one. All the qualifiers would be happy.
And if LD skips just because he thinks it's insulting, he may just hang up his rackets and retire. Based on his low ranking, he will probably need to play in SS qualification rounds from now on.