It's wierd for this Macau Open. There's normally 2 or 3 tournaments in a row for 3 weeks in the same region. Which helps to make long trips to different continent a better value. Macau Open seems to be a stand alone tournament........ unless u can count the Beijing Test Olympics the next week. hmmmmmmmm
I think CHN will send their best to Macau SAR. This Macau GP Gold got rescheduled from previously January. Agree, the new schedule is really inefficient!
I think there is a good chance of this. Politically, China will show support to Macau and HK as they have returned to being part of China.
Last time, you can buy a ticket at the door. On semifinal day, tickets were available. This year is a different venue. Don't know how many seats there are.
With Team CHINA pulling out of the Chinese-Taipei GP Gold, they should be all out at the Macau Open GP Gold.
Macau Open Hmm...its amazing that this GP Gold event attracts most of the top ranked players, esp in MD. Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun, Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah, Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan, Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto, Hendra A. Gunawan/Joko Riyadi, Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae will be there Some backup pairs like Bona Septano/Mohd Ahsan (good), Tantowi Ahmad/Viki Indra Okvana, Devin Lahardi/Lingga Lie will also be there. There's another odd pairing (to make up the number I guess) in Nova Widianto/Mohd Rijal Djarum is also well-represented as expected by the presence of Rian Sukmawan/Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki and Rendra Wijaya/Fran Kurniawan partnering yet again after their brief split. And...Halim Heryanto Ho/Eric Go will be competing there too IN WD, INA is well represented by Vita Marissa/Lilyana Natsir, Yulianti/Richi Puspita Dili (yes), and Lita Nurlita/Nitya Krishinda. The Djarum pair Meiliana Jauhari/Shendy Puspa is not there In XD, INA's lineup is not the usual (dunno why ). Nova Widianto is partnering Vita Marissa , while Lilyana Natsir is partnering Mohd Rijal. Hmm....is it because Greysia Polii is still injured and Flandy is not there? Why don't Nova just rest at home? Let Vita/Butet concentrate on WD Anyway, INA is represented by the backup pair Devin Lahardi/Lita Nurlita and Lingga Lie/Nitya Krishinda. No Tantowi Ahmad/Yulianti though, even though both players are there
The list is out..... Very intersting combination..Not many European players....no LCW .Boonsak and Sony but Has Taufik and Simon.. Who is Rio Willianto and Davin Prawissa???Tangkas Club? anyone kows??
I actually would like to see Natsir partner with some young guy. Nova is old and cannot keep the pace throughout the whole match, especially when facing strong opponents like Zheng/Gao.
While this is true for the Long Run, I don't think PBSI WILL RISK partnering Butet with someone else until after the Olympics 2008. That's the unfortunate thing because Nova/Butet (despite their inconsistency and well-cited weakness) are the ones who win the important titles so far (two World Championships ).
I am pretty sure Rio, Davin, and Achmad Rivai [MS] who entered this Macau Open are all from Ratih, that leading club from Banten. One of the INA Superliga Badminton top 8 clubs...
wow...thats good news...I hope other clubs will follow Djarum's footstep..... I heard there will be some withdrawal for WS...so I hope at least 2 will be promoted to Main draw ( Pia and Maria febe)
I agree with you that Pia and Febe are the most likely to be promoted directly into the main draw [usually a 32-player draw for WS] Imagine if the 8 big clubs in INA are like Ratih and Djarum... [funding their players to get experience]... INA will be a 'model' awesome badminton powerhouse... Sort of like the US in tennis... Bolittieri Tennis Academy funds talented youths until they become good pros [Agassi, Seles, Courrier, Capriati, and Sharapova]... Mmm, maybe the difference between tennis and badminton is: after they are sufficiently rich, they are on their own... In badminton, the players always need the sparring partners to practice their 'soft' touch aspect... So they probably will always be part of a club. In tennis, the individual athletes can be purely non-club affiliated after they have enough funds...
Hmmm.. ..actually there's already another thread for this tourney, here: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47509 Not sure if kwun wants to merge these 2 threads or not??..
