The draws are out in www.worldbadminton.net Tough draws for Taufik because he probably has to face Wong Choong Hann in the third round. Next up will probably Lee Chong Wei, the winner between Lin Dan and Peter Gade. In the other half of the draw, Sony is also facing a tough time. He will have Park Sung Hwan, the winner between Hafiz and Shon Sheung Mo, and probably the winner between Bonsak and Kenneth. For men's doubles, Candra/Sigit is expected to meet either Fu/Cai or Paaske/Rasmussen (their farewell tournament perhaps?) in the semi-final. Markis/Hendra should meet Flandy/Eng Hian in the second round (if they beat Thomas Laybourn/Peter Steffensen). Luluk/Alven has two Malaysian pairs to beat: Chew/Wong and Chan/Koo before an expected semi-final showdown with the winner between Markis/Hendra and Eriksen/Lundgaard Hansen. For women's doubles, not much hope for the Indonesian pairs because Lita/Natalia will face up against the world champion Yang/Zhang as early as in the second round. Jo/Gresya has another tough match against Saralee/Satinee in the first round. For mixed doubles, Nova/Lilyana is drawn to face the Olympic silver medallist Robertson/Emms in the quarter-final and the Olympic gold medallist Zhang/Gao in the semi-final. Anggun/Yunita is expected to face the new Danish pair of Rasmussen/Andersen (they have to first qualify for the main draw) as early as the first round. If they win, they should face another Danish pair in Eriksen/Schjoldager. Meanwhile, Sudket/Saralee is in for a tough match against the World Championship runner-up Xie/Zhang as early as in the first round.
MS Draw Segmented into quarters 1* Lin Dan 12* Kuan Beng Hong 7* Peter Gade 9* Lee Hyun Il (probably Simon Santoso in R32) Favourite from 1st Q: Lin Dan Most anticipated match: Lin v Gade 4* Lee Chong Wei 10* Ng Wei 5* Taufik Hidayat 13* Wong Choon Hann Favourite from 2nd Q: Taufik Most anticipated match: Taufik v Lee CW 15* Bobby Milroy 6* Chen Hong 16* Dicky Palyama (possibly Yeoh Kay Bin in R32) 3* Bao Chunlai Favourite from 3rd Q: Chen Hong Most anticipated match: Chen v Bao (this is the most dull quarter) 14* Sony Dwi Kuncoro (probably Park Sung Hwan in R32) 8* Hafiz Hashim (Lee Tsuen Seng in R32) 11* Boonsak Ponsana (probably Shon Seung Mo in R32) 2* Kenneth Jonassen Favourite from 4th Q: Hafiz (it's close and many may disagree with my pick) Most anticipated match: Sony v Hafiz, Boonsak v Ken, and the QF match (interesting quarter)
WS Draw Segemented into quarters 1* Zhang Ning 6* Xu Huaiwen (probably Cheng Shao-Chieh in R16) Favourite from 1st Q: Zhang Ning Most anticipated match: Cheng v Xu (can Cheng kill this giant?) 4* Pi Hongyan (Mia in 1st round, then Wong Mew Choo probably next in R16) 7* Tracey Hallam Favourite from 2nd Q: Mia/Pi Most anticipated match: Mia v Pi 8* Zhou Mi (probably Zhu Lin in the R16) 3* Wang Chen Favourite from 3rd Q: Wang (home ground) Most anticipated match: Zhu v Zhou, Wang v (Zhu or Zhou) 5* Yao Jie 2* Xie Xingfang Favourite from 4th Q: Xie Most anticipated match: Xie v Yao (no apparent dark horses in this quarter) (For Malaysian players: Wong MC had good luck in meeting lower seeds like Tracey Hallam previously, but this time, even though she has an easy first round, her R16 opponent is either Mia or Pi. Norshahliza Baharum and Julia Wong have good chances to qualify to the main draw; if they do, they will meet Thai Meemek Monthila and Cheng Shao-Chieh respectively.) (For Singapore players: unlucky, Li Li v Xu Huaiwen first round, Xing Aiying v Zhu Lin first round, Frances Liu Fan may have a relatively easy Tania Luiz but there is Xie Xingfang next.)
MD Draw 1* Candra/Sigit (probably Clark/Blair in R16) 8* Tan/Ong (Zheng Bo/Sun Junjie in first round, then in R16, either Sudket/Patapol or Jung Jae Sung/Han Sang Hoon) Favourite from 1st Q: Candra/Sigit Most anticipated match: matches in Tan/Ong's part of draw 4* Fu/Cai 5* Rasmussen/Paaske (probably Gan/Zakry in R16) Favourite from 2nd Q: Fu/Cai (only slightly over the Danes) Most anticipated match: Fu/Cai v Rasmussen/Paaske 6* Chan/Koo (unknown Chinese in first round, then probably Guo Zhendong/Xie Zhongbo next in R16) 3* Luluk/Alven (possibly Wong CH/Chew CE in R16) Favourite from 3rd Q: Luluk/Alven (not by far) Most anticipated match: Luluk/Alven v Chan/Koo 7* Kidho/Setiawan (easy first round, then either Laybourn/Steffensen or Limpele/Eng Hian) 2* Eriksen/Lundgaard Favourite from 4th Q: Eriksen/Lundgaard (because they don't have to slog through earlier rounds) Most anticipated match: matches in Kidho/Setiawan's draw, and the winner v Eriksen/Lundgaard
WD Draw 1* Yang/Zhang 6* Wei/Zhao Favourite from 1st Q: Yang/Zhang Most anticipated match: Chinese QF 3* Lee/Lee (Kor) 8* Jiang/Li (Sin) (probably Tripp/Nicholas - formerly Wright - in R16) Favourite from 2nd Q: Lee/Lee Most anticipated match: Singaporeans v English (others no match) 7* Emms/Kellogg 4* Saralee/Sathinee (Novita/Polii in first round) Favourite from 3rd Q: Saralee/Sathinee Most anticipated match: English v Thai QF 5* Chin/Wong (Mas) (probably Hallam/Munt in R16) 2* Gao/Huang Favourite from 4th Q: Gao/Huang Most anticipated match: Chin/Wong v Hallam/Munt There are 3 other Malaysian pairs but I don't expect them to survive the first round.
XD draw Surprisingly, quite an interesting field. 1* Widianto/Natsir 5* Robertson/Emms (Laybourn/Juhl in first round, then in R16, maybe Paaske/Nielsen who have to qualify for the main draw) Favourite from 1st Q: Widianto/Natsir Most anticipated match: Indon (current #1) v English (past #1) 3* Zhang/Gao 8* Saputra/Li (Clark/Kellogg in first round, then probably Gan/Fong in R16) Favourite from 2nd Q: Zhang/Gao Most anticipated match: Chinese v Singaporeans 7* Koo/Wong (probably Steffensen/Frier in the R16) 4* Sudket/Saralee (Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen in first round , and then probably Zheng Bo/Zhao Tingting next ) Favourite from 3rd Q: Sudket/Saralee but their draw is tough Most anticipated match: all the matches involving Sudket/Saralee 6* Eriksen/Schjoldager (Wijaya/Jiang in first round, then either Nugroho/Terry or Jonas Rasmussen/Andersen - who have to qualify though) 2* Lee HJ/Lee KW (Blair/Munt in R16) Favourite from 3rd Q: Koreans Most anticipated match: Eriksen/Schjoldager v Lee/Lee
The draw looks tough for most of the discipline and very competitive indeed. I am going to watch the semi-final and final in the Queen Elizabeth Stadium . Anybody else in HK planning to watch it together? .
yeah, i would say one of the best turnouts of the year. i hope someone will provide some of the matches for us poor unfortunate souls with no coverage to download ...
Probably because you have the pop-up blocker and/or security settings on your browser set. You need to allow www.worldbadminton.net.
high quality tournament by looking the main draw, hk open 2005 will be a real 6 stars tournament with 6 stars quality players. all most top players will participate good... good
Personally, I feel the winner of this tournament won't be Taufik. And to an extent, i would feel the same also for the upcoming China Open. My reason is because, 1. As far as i know, Taufik didn't really set any "personal goal" of winning either of this tournament. He has been saying all along ever since his WC title, that his main focus will be on next year's All-England and prepare for the Thomas Cup. 2. it's nearing the end of the year and most likely it's time to wind down 3. Most likely, he will approach this tournament just like last year when he played in the invitation event of Copenhagen Masters. There's really nothing much to "prove" for himself, other than going deeper in the tournament. On that note, i'll *be surprise* if he wins this tournament. Esp. with his "lack of hunger" attitude showing up again, esp. in the recent Indonesian Open(for whatever reason). My best "bet" player to win this tournament is LinDan(as he showed to us what he did after the Olympics last year) My "dark horse" player to win this tournament is Sony DKuncoro
Nothing surprising for this field. Should be a China player, either ZN or XXF. A bit surprise though none of the Japanese WS gals are participating in this 6* tourney(ie. Kaori, Eriko, Kanako)..
Not so good draw for the INA teams. The only pair that has a chance to go all the way to SF is Candra/Sigit. Bottom group has Luluk/Alven, Falndi/EngHian(i don't know why are they still going) and Markis/Hendra. I only think 1 of them will go all the way to the SF. I'm interested to see how the MAS pair is progressing. Rexy already put a burden on his top pairs to perform well. Also, i want to keep an eye on the other MAS veteran pair(argh forgot their names, who recently defeated Tony and Halim). We shall see.. My best "bet" pair to win this tourney is Candra/Sigit. My "dark horse" pair to win is Markis/Hendra. Will this be their coming out party?Will they be able to at least reach the QF stage?? We shall see..
No surprises. Barring any injury, either of the China's pair will win. Surprise also not to see Japan's top WD pairs competing in this 6* tourney.
This looks like a very fun and wild field. Yes very interesting!! I would love to see any of these matches. All Heavy Weight contenders participating, hopefully with no major injuries, unlike in World Championships..WOW!!!!! Well, the current WC(Nova/Lilyana) have their work cut out for them. They will have 2 tough tests before going to the Final. If everything goes as planned, they will play Robertson/Emms in QF, WOW!! then if they pass them Gao/Zhang is on their way in the SF, WOW!!. Then if they can pass them, either Sudket/Saralee or Lee/Lee are about to meet them in the Finals....pheeeew..wow, what a draw!!.. Pressure will be on them, but if they can win this tournament, it'll validate their WC success and will undoubtedly be the "top pair to beat" for next year.. My best "bet" pair to win this tourney is the current WC Nova/Lilyana My "dark horse" pair to win is Sudket and Saralee...