Wild guesswork Hmmm... Ha/Kim, Lee/Yoo, Candra/Sigit, and Limpele/Hian are all in the lower half of the draw. One of those pairs against Eriksen/Lundgaard-Hansen in the final is my guess... Prove me wrong, Jonas! In mixed, I think one can expect an all-Danish final... unless Zhang Jun/Gao Ling have other plans! MS will be an all-Chinese affair. My guess is Xia meets Bao in the final. Xia wins. WS is a very open affair... Camilla hasn't been her old self after the AE, so it will probably be an all-Chinese final. All the Chinese girls seem to be able to beat each other in turns. My guess is Zhou Mi takes it home. WD: Harder/Schjoldager meets Ra/Lee in the final... and the Koreans win...
Bao may not even get thru Hendrawan in first round. Situation is tense in Ina because of strained relations between Msia and Ina over immigration issues. I think China players are even more relaxed. Very difficult to win against home players in Ina. Probably ample opportunities for Europeans to win .
When was the last time a non-Indonesian Men's pair won this tournament? Wasn't Chen Hong the 1st non-Indonesian to win S'pore Open? Is this a sign of things to come?
History check Actually, that was in 1991 when Park Joo-Bong and Kim Moon-Soo won over Hartono/Gunawan... But in the other disciplines there have been non-Indo winners: Yong Hock Kin in 1998, Camilla Martin in 2000, Goode/Kellogg in 2000, Kirkegaard/Olsen in 1999, Archer/Goode in 1999... But I see your point: with two or three exceptions, the rule is that there is Indonesian precense in all the finals -- in all the categories. It is obvious that in this tournament, supporters really mean a lot... That would speak for Candra/Sigit... I guess Limpele/Hian will get a nasty reception... If you mean MS, yes. Not in other categories: Zhang Ning, Zhang/Wei, and Eriksen/Schjoldager all won last year. In 1999, although Arbi won in MS, that was the only Indonesian title... In 1998 there were also Chinese winners, if I remember correctly...