Draws can also be found here.. ..http://tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=22647 ..Halim is taking Tony G.'s spot; Tony partnered with Raju last yr. Yes, there are Asian players (although not from the main/national squad): MAS - Hock Lai Lee NEP - Indra Mehata, Pankaj Chand, Ram Singh Chaudhari IND - Aravind Gangani, Sabyasachi Ghosh PHI - Christopher Flores TPE - Li Ying Chang, Shih Chieh Hung, Pei Ling Tsai, Chia Chen Yang
For those interested....Stay tuned... ...for any late-breaking infos and news, in about 8-9 hrs...(gotta keep the excitement flowing, esp. for this barely-noticeable tourney)......
I would like to share some thoughts about US Open. Reasons why not to go there: 1. Too far from both Europe and Asia, tickets are expensive (especially nowadays). 2. Very different time zone, a few days are necessary to get adapted, and then need to adapt back. 3. Headache with getting US visa (this concerns not all the countries, but many). 4. Unfortunate period of year: qualification to OG or WC already finished, OG or WC are coming soon, and nobody (among top players) needs the ranking points "badly". Reasons why to go there (I've found only one): 1. Very good ratio of "Ranking points"/"Tournament level". Most of Challengers in Asia and Europe attract more good players, while offer less ranking points and prize money. On the other hand, ranking points are not too big to attract top players. But it can be enough to attract top players with low ranking (e.g. after injury). Examples: PG in 2002, JJY last year, and many others. Another example is the Russian team two years ago. As you may remember, in 2006 we have a battle between two National Federations... it is a long story, I don't like going deep into the details, but one thing is important: most of our top players supported the new Federation (NFBR), but at that time NFBR was not allowed to send players to international tournaments (though some players left with the old Federation were sent to some tourneys). As a result our main national team had missed the Thomas and Uber Cup (European qualification round), and European Championship, as well as all the other tournaments in the first half of 2006. Well, when NFBR was recognized and admitted to IBF, they ought to reward players for their support, and players needed ranking points badly... In these circumstances US Open was just a right place to send them all to. Now the situation is different and the reasons "why not to go" prevail. OK, what can we (or you) do to change this? Yes, move up to GP Gold is a good idea. I think the ranking points are even more important than the prize money. But did you mention that most of tournaments in Europe and Asia are bundled by 2 or 3 in a row? If you go so far, it worth to take part in two or three tournaments, not only one. I mean, if there is another GP tourney (e.g. Canadian Open) one week before or after... preferably not too far, in the same time zone (Vancouver?)... it would be much more attractive to go there. What do you think?
Good insights.. ..Dmitry, your points of "why to attend/not to attend the U.S. Open" are somewhat valid. However, in addition to that, and yes, as you (and others) have also inferred to is the fact that it only offers smaller prize money. I'm pretty optimistic that if it was upgraded to a GP Gold status, it could attract more players (in respect to the above 4 reasons). Btw, that's an interesting background story about the Russian's team attendance in the U.S. Open, 2 yrs. ago. Yes, i do remember them (wish if they all could come back, again)..Thanks for sharing a bit of infos.
Good morning (good evening) all.. ...here are some pics... okay, those'll be the only pics of this tournament...i think my camera is about to shimmy... ...first matches of the day (Qualifications) are about to start....chat to you guys later-
OK, how about Canadian Open GP bundled with US Open GP Gold? I believe it could help a lot... You are welcome. Btw it was not official info of course, and I have no relations with officials... It was my personal opinion, but I believe it is true or very close to the true.
Thanks Popcorn. Quite a few of my friends and people I play against/with are playing. I should just drive down and cheer them on...but traffic is a hinderance. Panda ponders whether or not to go...
It should be, that's why we're wondering. Actually, I'll call over there and confirm...right now... ...nobody picked-up, left a message to call back. Hopefully we'll now shortly.
Lefty is another "Cheng", but not Cheng Che Chang. Cheng Che Chang (aka. "OA") is a ex-national player from Taiwan who coaches in SmashCity. i actually saw him in SmashCity last night coaching. maybe he just decided not to show up in the US Open.
Wow, thanks for the clarification. Small world, having such similar names (at least English spelling-wise).
