MEN'S SINGLES Lee Chong Wei vs Lee Cheol Ho -- no problem for LCW Chetan Anand vs Markus Wijanu -- hopefully, the Indonesian can win Ng Wei vs Nikhil Kanetkar Poompat Sapkulchananart vs Li Yu -- can the Thai create another upset? Kuan Beng Hong vs Qiu Yanbo Park Sung Hwan vs Yogendran Krishnan Sony Dwi Kuncoro vs Sho Sasaki (MATCH OF THE ROUND) -- tough first test for Sony! Yeoh Kay Bin vs Chin Sheng-Ming Kendrick Lee Yen Hui vs Chen Yu Yousuke Nakanishi vs Sairul Amar Ayob Liao Sheng-Shiu vs Chan Yan Kit Jang Young Soo vs Kashyap (??) Muhd Roslin Hashim vs Nguyen Tien Minh -- close candidate for match of the round. I am picking the Viet this time. Ahn Hyun Suk vs Boonsak Ponsana Thomas Kurian vs Simon Santoso -- shouldn't be a problem for Simon Hung Yuk Wong vs Muhd Hafiz Hashim -- another breeze for Hafiz WOMEN'S SINGLES Wang Chen vs Soratja Chansrisukot Eriko Hirose vs Saina Nehwal (MATCH OF THE ROUND) -- the Jap is technically more superior, but, my heart goes to the young and promising Saina Lee Yun Hwa vs Li Li -- yet another tough call after Lee beat Cheng today Jiang Yanjiao vs Pai Min-Jie -- it will be a shock if Jiang loses tomorrow Trupti Murgunde vs Kanako Yonekura Ng Ka Shun vs Chen Li Yip Pui Yin vs Seo Yoon Hee -- another candidate for match of the round. The HK player has improved...but can see beat another Korean player after deposing Jun Jae Yun in 3 close sets? Sutheswari Mudukasan vs Kaori Mori WOMEN'S DOUBLES Wong Pei Tty/Chin Ee Hui vs Chang Yu-Ju/Cheng Hsiao-Yun Thilini Sudhara Jayasinghe/Renu C.D.S. Hettiarachchige vs Lim Pek Siah/Joanne Quay Swee Ling -- what a long name.... Mooi Hing Yau/Fong Chew Yen vs Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing Tomomi Masuda/Aki Akao vs Zhao Yunlei/Cheng Shu -- the Chinese beat Xing Aiying/Shinta Mulya Sari today....they could sneak another suprise tomorrow. Long Ying/Pun Ut Wa vs Pan Pan/Tian Qing -- yet another potential top Chinese women doubles pair in the making. Satako Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda vs Saralee Thungthongkam/Sathinee Jankrajangwong Du Jing/Yu Yang vs Wong Man Ching/See Phui Leng Jiang Yanmei/Li Yujia vs Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota (MATCH OF THE ROUND) -- gonna be a pretty interesting match...the Jap pair has an edge. MIXED DOUBLES Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir vs V. Diju/Jwalla Gutta Gan Teik Chai/Fong Chew Yen vs Shen Ye/Pan Pan -- could be a problem for the Malaysian Songpol Anukritayawan/Kulchala Vorawichitchaikul vs Keita Masuda/Tomomi Matsuda Devin Lahardi/Vita Marissa vs Zhang Wei/Yu Yang (MATCH OF THE ROUND) -- tough first test for Devin/Vita, hope they will win! Tran Thanh Hai/Le Ngoc Nguyen Nhung vs Mohd Rizal/Endang Nursugianti -- no problem for Rizal/Endang Shintaro Ikeda/Satoko Suetsuna vs Hendri Saputra Kurniawan/Li Yujia He Hanbin/Zhao Yunlei vs Anggun Nugroho/Yunita Tetty -- a tricky tie for the Indonesian no 2 pair, but, they should win! Gong Weijie/Tian Qing vs Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thungthongkam -- by right, also no problem for the second seed.
Interesting to note: (Another silly chatter ) Korea didn't send their top and most experience shutters. Lee Hyun Il, One MD, and the women doubles. Probably they had secret training back in Korea. And of course, now I know why China didn't send their top players. The players they send here didn't qualify into Thomas or Uber Cup team. The Thomas and Uber Cup members and their reserve players had an intensive training . (Probably) So it mean Xia Xuan Ze already a member of China Thomas squad. Yeah! Very good. XXZ already in Thomas Cup squad 4 times, (2000,2002,2004 and this year) At least this is my opinion and it maybe also wrong.
Any of you guys from Indonesia know about the extent of Taufik's injury? The Thomas Cup will be much less intense without him at his best.
The XD matches have been concluded. No problem for the world champion Nova/Butet so far, cruising through in 2 sets, although the first set is pretty close at 21-18. They will now entertain Gan Teik Chai/Fong Chew Yen in the QF. Gan/Fong beat China's young pairing of Shen Ye/Pan Pan easily. Zhang Wei/Yu Yang beat Devin Lahardi/Vita Marissa in 3 sets: 21-17, 13-21, 21-19....so close in the third set. Nova/Butet has to be careful and should meet them in the semi-final. Zhang/Yu is also the only Chinese pair remaining in the XD draw...thanks to the presence of the experienced Zhang Wei and the ever-improving Yu Yang. Its interesting to see that China could produce a world class mixed pair from a not-so-good men's doubles player and a relatively better women's doubles player. Zhang Jun used to be Zhang Wei's partner in MD and I believe they are nowhere classified as a top pair. Yet, he is a world class mixed pair with Gao Ling for the past few years. Perhaps Zhang/Yu could be one top pair soon? The Japanese pair of Keita Masuda/Tomomi Matsuda awaits them in the QF. Muhd Rizal/Endang Nur Sugianti expectedly beat the Viet pair, albeit in 3 sets: 11-21, 21-19, 21-13. They will now meet the CG bronze medallist Hendri Kurniawan Saputra/Li Yujia in the QF tomorrow. A tough match and in terms of ranking, the Singaporean is more superior. Hope the Indo pair can win though.... Anggun Nugroho/Yunita Tetty deposes the Chinese young pairing of He Hanbin/Zhao Yunlei 23-21, 21-13 and will now face the second seeded Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thungthongkam in the match of the roud tomorrow. The Thai also beat another young Chinese pair of Gong Weijie/Tian Qing early this morning. They have not been playing well since Saralee's injury late last year. Anggun/Yunita have also beaten them in the SEA Games individual event semi-final. An interesting match tomorrow and the Thai has a slight edge despite them still not being in their top form yet. MIXED DOUBLES QUARTER-FINAL Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir vs Gan Teik Chai/Fong Chew Yen Keita Masuda/Tomomi Matsuda vs Zhang Wei/Yu Yang Muhammad Rizal/Endang Nur Sugiantivs Hendri Kurniawan Saputra/Li Yujia Anggun Nugroho/Yunita Tetty vs Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thungthongkam (MATCH OF THE ROUND)
The top half of MS Round 2 match is completed. LCW again through in 2 sets: 21-13, 21-7 Chetan Anand beats Markus Wijanu 21-15, 27-25. A good experience for the Indonesian youngster. Honestly, he still lacks exposure as this is considered his first overseas GP tournament. At least, the second set is pretty tight. LCW will face Chetan Anand as I expect in the third round later this evening....the CG gold medallist against bronze medallist....easily match of the round! Poompat Sapkulchanart beat Li Yu 10-21, 21-18, 21-19. He faces Ng Wei next. Ng himself has no problem beating his Sri Lankan opponent in 2 sets. Qiu Yanbo receives a walkover...maybe KBH is injured? He will meet Park Sung Hwan who beat Yogendran Krishnan 21-7, 21-13. Yeoh Kay Bin is also through to Round 3 after another easy victory over Chin Sheng-Ming 21-14, 21-7. He will face Sony who beat Sho Sasaki 22-20, 21-16. MEN'S SINGLES ROUND 3 (TOP HALF) Lee Chong Wei vs Chetan Anand (MATCH OF THE ROUND) Ng Wei vs Poompat Sapkulchananart Qiu Yanbo vs Park Sung Hwan Sony Dwi Kuncoro vs Yeoh Kay Bin
All the matches for MS Round 2 are completed. Chen Yu beats Kendrick Lee in 3 sets 17-21, 21-15, 21-16 Nguyen Tien Minh's advance is stopped by Mohd Roslin Hashim 15-21, 16-21. We will definitely see more of this player in the coming months, esp in the Vietnam Open. MEN'S SINGLES ROUND 3 Lee Chong Wei vs Chetan Anand (MATCH OF THE ROUND) Ng Wei vs Poompat Sapkulchananart Qiu Yanbo vs Park Sung Hwan Sony Dwi Kuncoro vs Yeoh Kay Bin Chen Yu vs Sairul Amar Ayob Chan Yan Kit vs Jang Soo Young Mohd Roslin Hashim vs Boonsak Ponsana -- another interesting match Simon Santoso vs Mohd Hafiz Hashim -- another close candidate for match of the round. I hope Simon win.
Some matches have been completed in MD Round 1. Not much surprises, except for Shen Ye/He Han Bin beating the Thai no 1 pair of Sudket/Pattapol in 3 close sets: 21-18, 15-21, 22-20 Candra/Sigit advances but they are still pretty rusty, winning only 21-17, 21-15 over unfancied Chinese Taipei player. They will face the Indian pair of Kurian/Diju this evening. The defending champion Markis/Hendra has no difficulty storming past their Sri Lankan opponents 21-2, 21-10. They will face a stiff test in the second round against Lee Jae Jin/Han Sang Hoon -- possibly match of the round. Other pairs such as Gong Wei Jie/Zhang Wei, Tan Bin Shen/Chew Choon Eng, Hwang Ji Man/Jung Tae Tuk, Hoon Thien How/Tan Boon Heong, Chen Hung Ling/Lin Yu Lang all progress to Round 2. 6 more matches in Round 1 to be completed....
CCM/KKK as well as WCH were withdrawn from ABC by Yap Kim Hock probably because they had a gruelling schedule over the past fortnight (esp for WCH). LCW also voiced out that he was initially planned to be withdrawn, but Yap still includes him to let him better adapt to the 21-pts system in preparation for the Thomas Cup.
One more upset in MD Round 1. Mohd Fairuzuzian Mohd Tazari/Lin Woon Fui lost suprisingly to a Jap pair Shuichi Nakao/Keishi Kawaguchi 18-21, 18-21. Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah beat Hendra Gunawan/Joko Riyadi in two close sets 21-19, 21-18. A good experience for the Indonesian young pair. Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto beat Shuichi Sakamoto/Shintaro Ikeda also unconvincingly 21-15, 21-16. MEN'S DOUBLES ROUND 2 (to be played this evening) Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto vs Thomas Kurian/V. Diju Shuichi Nakao/Keichi Kawaguchi vs Hoon Thien How/Tan Boon Heong -- the Jap may yet suprise again although I think the Malaysian World Junior Champion should win. Cheng Hung Ling/Lin Yu Lang vs Shen Ye/He Hanbin Keita Masuda/Shoji Sato vs Hwang Ji Man/Jung Tae Tuk -- the Jap also might win Gong Weijie/Zhang Wei vs Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah Lee Jae Jin/Han Sang Hoon vs Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan (MATCH OF THE ROUND) -- tricky tie for Markis/Hendra....I hope they can prevail. Chew Choon Eng/Tan Bin Shen vs Gan Teik Chai/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif -- the young Malaysian pair is on a rise....they should win, although Chew/Tan is relatively more experienced. Thomas Sanave/Rupesh Kumar vs Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto -- shouldn't be a problem for Luluk/Alvent/ I think they have beaten the Indian pair in Jaipur last mth.
@badmania, Good analysis about China XD. Indeed you are right. I always wonder why they chose not so well men doubles player to play XD instead of a really good MD like Cai Yun or Fu Hai Feng? From Ge Fei/ Liu Yong, Zhang Jun/ Gao Ling, Chen Qi Qiu/ ZTT, all the men are not very good MD. But of course the ladies are top WD specially GF and GL. But they changed the pattern a bit when they pair Zhang Ya Wen/ Xie Zhong Bo. Both are quite a good WD and MD players. No wonder they are number 2 in the world right now.
Probably match of the day of MS today will be Hafiz VS Simon, cause they will probably meet again in Thomas Cup.
Interesting Match. I think so, Simon is eager to prove his ability, Hafiz is at his lowest form now, both of them has a lot to prove to the world, it's going to be interesting match, and i think Simon is going to win!! but very close...........
Guo Zhendong/Xie Zhongbo is still rather inconsistent in terms of their performance. They still have to yet to reach the status of a world class pair. The same goes for Sang Yang/Zheng Bo. They impressed only in 2004, after which they have really fallen badly up to today. The only MD world class pair China has right now is Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun. I don't think Li Yongbo is gonna play either one in XD. Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen is fast becoming a top pair in XD....they are a real prime candidate for the gold in Beijing Olympics just 2 years from now.
No! Zhang Wei is still a very young player(no more than 20 years old).He is not the having retired and experienced Zhang Wei!
