Venue : North Shore Events Centre, Auckland-NZL Total prize-money : US$120,000 Tournament website : http://www.nzbadmintonopen.com/ Daily Order of Play, Result, LiveScore : http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=2F65CB03-F736-4C3E-A3BB-86ED37264EC6 Tournament time-table : http://www.nzbadmintonopen.com/draws/ Live-Streaming : - http://www.nzbadmintonopen.com/interact/watch-live-stream/ - http://videostream.dn.ua/videopage/videoPage.php?g=c2J2b2JoK2F0Y3ZsbmhZ&c=en&i=eWlhaXVidGd1bA№f№f Auckland time : http://www.worldtimezone.com/time/wtzresult.php?CiID=4594&forma=Find Time 2015 WINNERS => https://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/...85B01B-43DF-4F43-AF62-EB96BFFE03CB&d=20150503 MS - Lee Hyun Il (KOR) WS - Saena Kawakami (JPN) MD - Huang Kaixiang/Zheng Siwei (CHN) WD - Xia Huan/Zhong Qianxin (CHN) XD - Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen (CHN) The qualification round has been completed, men's singles first round (R/64) will be started soon, 04.00pm local time => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...65CB03-F736-4C3E-A3BB-86ED37264EC6&d=20160322 Most of the participants here are second stringers with the exceptional Korea as they're represented by full force minus Lee YD/Yoo YS. Barring any upsets the Koreans should dominate this GP Gold as the elite shuttlers will prepare for next week Superseries tour in New Delhi. Top-seed Son Wan Ho is expected to clear early rounds and on paper scenario will meet one of Chinese youngsters, either Huang YX or Lin GP at last eight. His younger compatriot Lee Dong Keun is grouped with two INA upcoming players Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting, Vietnamese veteran Nguyen Tien Minh, last year's runner-up Qiao Bin and Macau Open semifinalist Goh Soon Huat. In women's singles category, Korean leading ladies, Sung Ji Hyun and Bae Yeon Ju alongside with Yui Hashimoto, Lindaweni Fanetri occupy top-four seeding position in this tournament. Two promising talents Chen Yufei and defending champion Saena Kawakami may trouble those established names. Men's doubles competition will offer KOR-INA rivalry, top-two seeds Kim GJ/Kim SR and Ko SH/Shin BC are slated to meet Pratama/Suwardi and Gideon/Sukamuljo respectively in last four. It's tall order for last year's winner Huang KX/Zheng SW to defend their title here. Two Korean XD, second seed Shin BC/Chae YJ will find tricky opening round against Huang KX/Huang DP also Choi SG/Eom HW as well who will be tested by reigning MAS Masters champion Zheng SW/Li YH.
Plenty of lopsided matches in MS first round between home players against foreign opponents. Tomorrow's R/32 will begin on 10.00am local time (4 court) => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...65CB03-F736-4C3E-A3BB-86ED37264EC6&d=20160323 All seeded players in singles category should step up into next round, these two underdogs may trouble their higher-ranked rival, Shi Yuqi v Kazumasa Sakai (15th seed) and Hui Xirui v Hsu Ya Ching (5th seed).
Things won't get serious until round 3 in MS. I predict SWH and Shi Yuqi for the upper semi, and Ginting - Nguyen for the lower semi.
Although Zheng/Li won against the Korean fourth seed I must say that they didn't play well today especially in the first two sets. Zheng Siwei was not his usual alert and fast self and his choice of shots were quite bad. Li Yinhui on the other hand was not creative at the net and more often than not sent her interception into the net. It is only in the third set that they could get their combination and game going. Sort of unlucky to be drawn against the Koreans so early before they can grow into the tournament.
I guess Zheng Siwei/Li Yinhui now have a point to prove as Wang Yilv/Chen Qingchen have just won the Swiss Open last week, and they are becoming self-conscious, perhaps a bit anxious too, hence the tentative start.
Tomorrow's day-3 tournament will kick off on 10.00am (3 court) with WD first round => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...65CB03-F736-4C3E-A3BB-86ED37264EC6&d=20160324 After passed previous rounds easily, some seeded players will find tougher test at last sixteen. MS number one seed Son Wan Ho and Vietnamese veteran Nguyen Tien Minh are favoured to progress into last eight, the remaining ties will deliver pretty unpredictable outcome. Two Indonesian rising stars, Jonatan Christie and Ihsan Maulana Mustofa will face Chinese challenge, Qiao Bin and Shi Yuqi respectively. Third seed Lee Dong Keun has Malaysian player Goh Soon Huat and fourth seed Hsu Jen Hao who battled hard to eliminate Wibowo in second round will up against 2013 Asian Junior Champion, Soo Teck Zhi. Japan WS has sealed two quarterfinal slots through Ohori v Hashimoto and Kawakami v Imabeppu, the clash of junior-senior. Both Sung Ji Hyun and Bae Yeon Ju should have no problem to clear next hurdle. MD frontrunners, Pratama/Suwardi also Ko SH/Shin BC as well got scare opening round as they're pushed to the limit by the unseeded pairs, Inoue/Kaneko and Han CK/Zhou HD respectively. Next, INA #2 will take on another Japanese combo Hoki/Kobayashi while former world champion has Indonesian youngsters Alfian/Ardianto. Korean seeded XD pairs suffered first round exit, 4th seed Choi SG/Eom HW lost to China potential talent, Zheng SW/Li YH and Prasetya/Saufika stunned 8th seed Kim GJ/Shin SC, both matches in rubber games, these two underdogs have prospect to meet each other in last eight. At top-half of draw, strong contender Ko SH/Kim HN had trouble to overcome Chrisnanta/Vanessa Neo in two close games and will see Chinese juniors next, He JT/Du Y.
Wow managed to check the scores life. So happy to see all the Korean players have safely passed the second round to play in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Not a bad performance after all.
But it was this result that startled me. What am upset. Soo Teck Zhi won over Hsu Jen Hao 21-17, 21-10. Oh my goodness I just cannot believe this result myself.
Though Shi Yuqi beat Mustofa in two straight sets, the match was a close affair despite the score 21-16 in G2, after taking G1, 21-19.
KOR is here in full force,unlike the rest, clearly the favourite to clinch all the titles, a good chance for a clean sweep.
Yes, but MS is in doubt. Son is the favorite but not by much in my eyes. Shi and Ginting could him give a good run.
Qiao Bin after narrowly dropping G1, 22-24, reasserted himself in G2 and G3 to turn the match around. Christie Jonatan is not to be underestimated.
Noticed that he can sometimes get impatient like when he was leading 10-7 in G2. Could it be because he was tiring and wanted to quickly go into the mid-game break for a breather?
