Interesting possible battles in QF for MD: Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah [1] vs Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man [5] Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto [4] vs Nova Widianto/Candra Wijaya or Shuichi Sakamoto/Shintaro Ikeda [7] Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari/Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif [6] vs Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong [3] Tadashi Ohtsuka/Keita Masuda [8] vs Hendra A. Gunawan/Joko Riyadi or Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae [2] A mouth-watering line-up in the XD -- the winner this week will be a worthy Asian Champion!: Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir [1] vs Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen [5] Lee Yong Dae/Lee Hyo Jung [8] vs He Hanbin/Yu Yang [3] Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam [6] vs Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa [4] Han Sang Hoon/Hwang Yu Mi [7] vs Zheng Bo/Gao Ling [2]
there is also a main point as the incentive to win. for the chinese team the incentive is to get a third player into the draw thus increase the medals hope for the team. for everyone else, to replace the world no 4/5 with someone outside probably the top 32 is a nice thing to have, but not enough to risk an injury etc. that's exactly what TH is doing, if someone else going to clear the path for him, i.e. to eliminate CJ even before the game, fine. he will just having a nice rest and watch it from a distance.
So, if Nova/Lilyana manage to eliminate Xie/Zhang at QF, then China's hopes of 3rd XD pair is gone. It's not only Limpele/Marissa's task but Nova/Lilyana to ensure China doesnt have 3 XD pairs in OG. Very interesting this one, if they meet.
Thanks Eagle, that's what I thought. Their last meeting was a distant memory. There is a need to find the correct balance between rest/afraid of injury and stamina for each player. I don't believe frequent rest or missing tough competitions will be very good thing to do for players who want to lead the pack, not just following it.
Overall it is a good draw for our team. Now, it is up to our heroes to bill up to the expectations. We should not face any problems in the 1st round. Crowds are behind them with through fighting spirit. Our journeys will begin today to ensure that our players qualify to main draw.
it is time for LYB to show his patriotism again in ABC by giving out some team instructions... CJ will most probably enter final in this tournament....hope the line judges in ABC will be fair enough to avoid "racket throwing" incidents again....
why the tournamentscore is not showing livescore for this ABC any more...anyone knows what happen on this website????
Defending champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia has withdrawn from the Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) but Malaysia's top men's singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei will still find the going tough. This is because national chief coach Yap Kim Hock thinks that China have arrived with a plan to ensure that Chen Jin wins the title in the ABC which begins today with the qualifying tournament at the Bandaraya Stadium. Even world number one Lin Dan had turned up despite the controversy surrounding a punch-up with coach Ji Xinpeng at their training camp recently. The others in the China camp are Bao Chunlai, Chen Yu, Lu Yi and Zhu Weilun. Kim Hock felt that China’s focus would be on Chen Jin and not Lin Dan in Johor Baru. Based on the draw released by the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) yesterday, top seed Lin Dan is expected to take on compatriot Chen Jin in the semi-finals. “I suspect that the China’s men singles team are here to see Chen Jin through to the Olympic Games in Beijing as the third qualifier. Chen Jin is currently ranked fourth in the world and he needs to hold on to that spot to make the cut,” said Kim Hock. “They will go all out to make his path clear.” A country is allowed to have a maximum of three players in the Olympics if all of them are ranked within the top four. “Chen Jin has not been doing well since winning the All-England title. I will not be surprised if Lin Dan does a favour for Chen Jin if they were to meet in the semi-finals,” he added. In the top half of the draw with Lin Dan and Chen Jin are South Korean Lee Hyun-il, Simon Santoso of Indonesia, Chen Yu and Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann. On second seed Chong Wei’s draw, Kim Hock said: “It is a tough for him. He has Bao Chunlai in the same half. They could meet in the semi-finals.” The others in the same half with Chong Wei are World Championships runner-up Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, South Korean Park Sung-hwan, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana and Malaysia's Mohd Hafiz Hashim. World champion Lin Dan, however, showed that he meant business by showing up in Johor Baru yesterday. “I love coming to Malaysia. I was not here during the Malaysian Open but I don’t want to miss out playing in Malaysia at least once in a year,” said Lin Dan yesterday. For the record, Taufik pulled out because of a back injury. Indonesia’s team manager Luis Pongoh said that Taufik preferred to stay home to get ready for next month’s Thomas Cup Finals in Jakarta.
Mew Choo moves up after Chinese pull out Wong Mew Choo (pic) is now the second seed in the women’s singles event in the Asian Badminton Championships after a massive pullout by China’s top women stars. Yesterday, China’s top four players – Xie Xingfang, Zhang Ning, Zhu Lin and Lu Lan - had withdrawn, thus taking some of the glitter away from the championships, which is the last tournament for Asian players to win Olympic qualifying points. The Chinese players could afford to take a break as they have fill up the quota of having a maximum of three women players in the Beijing Olympics. In their absence, Mew Choo stands a good chance to reach her first ABC final. Last year, she crashed out in the semi-finals. Two Hong Kong players - top seed Wang Chen and third seed Yip Pui Yin - will be the main threats for Mew Choo. The Malaysian is likely to face them in the semi-finals and final respectively.
So the EC mixed team championships rankings points have to be taken into consideration to. KJ has both the EC individual and the mixed team rankings yet to be played.
I wonder Europe Mixed team.........contributes ranking points for Olympic.....because ABC...dont have mixed team competition....its not fair for players from Asia....and European players will have one extra tournament ranking point to gain....not fair...
The European Mixed-Team Championships together with the Men's/Women's Team Championships which were contested in February are all included. However, a player/pair can only choose one with the higher ranking points gained. I don't think Kenneth Jonassen will obtain more ranking points from the Mixed-Team Championships, as he could only get 5850+bonus pts, certainly less than 6062 pts he obtained in the European Men's Team Championships in February.
MEN'S SINGLES Sony Dwi Kuncoro -- should be a smooth route to QF where Sony will face Bao Chunlai R64 vs Balaram Thapa R32 vs Pakkawat Vilailak R16 vs Shoji Sato QF vs Bao Chunlai Simon Santoso -- Simon will also fulfill his seeding, but, can he beat an injury troubled Chen Jin? R64 vs Anand Pawar R32 vs Alamsyah Yunus R16 vs Chen Jin Tommy Sugiarto -- R16 will be the maximum young Tommy can go, that is assuming he beat Ng Wei R64 vs Q5 R32 vs Ng Wei R16 vs Lee Hyun Il Alamsyah Yunus -- Alam should reach the second round R64 vs Hsueh Hsuan Yi R32 vs Simon Santoso Andreas Adityawarman -- unlucky Adit! R64 vs Lin Dan MEN'S DOUBLES Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto -- a tricky first match, but, they should reach the QF facing probably the Japanese pair. Winning the QF will see them fulfilling their seeding and possibly entertain the top-seeded MAS pair or Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man R32 vs Rupesh Kumar/Thomas Sanave R16 vs Bao Duc Duong/Cao Hieu Pham QF vs Shuichi Sakamoto/Shintaro Ikeda or Nova Widianto/Candra Wijaya SF vs Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah Hendra A. Gunawan/Joko Riyadi -- tough draw as always, with a tricky first match and a huge task of beating the second-seeded All-England champion R32 vs Songphon Anugritayawon/Tesana Panvisvas R16 vs Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae Nova Widianto/Candra Wijaya -- an easy first round, before a match against the WC bronze-medallist R32 vs Pashuptati Paneru/Balaram Thapa R16 vs Shuichi Sakamoto/Shintaro Ikeda
Vita Marissa/Lilyana Natsir -- an easy first match, but tough matches to come thereafter against the 3rd Japanese pair, 2nd Korean pair and possible the top seed (if Yang/Zhang still compete). R32 vs Sujana Shrestha/Sumina Shrestha R16 vs Aki Akao/Tomomi Matsuda QF vs Ha Jung Eun/Kim Min Jung SF vs Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen Jo Novita/Greysia Polii -- Jo/Grace should take the second Olympic spot after a relatively manageable draw up to QF R32 vs Yana Katerinich/Anna Smirnova R16 vs Shinta Mulia Sari/Yao Lei QF vs Chieh Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing Rani Mundiasti/Endang NUrsugianti -- another Nippon gals mean that Rani/Endang will wave goodbye to their Olympics hope R32 vs Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda MIXED DOUBLES Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir -- tricky matches right from the start, culminating in the expected clash against Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen in the QF, then He Hanbin/Yu Yang in the SF and hopefully Zheng Bo/Gao Ling in the Final. It will be a major morale booster for them if they can beat ALL 3 Chinese pairs this week! R32 vs Lim Khim Wah/Wong Pei Tty R16 vs Hwang Ji Man/Kim Min Jung QF vs Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen SF vs He Hanbing/Yu Yang F vs Zheng Bo/Gao Ling Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa -- a tricky match awaits in R16 and they should be able to reach the SF R32 vs Chang Hun Pin/Amelia Alicia Anscelly R16 vs Lee Jae Jin/Ha Jung Eun QF vs Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam SF vs Zheng Bo/Gao Ling Mohd Rijal/Greysia Polii -- unlucky tough first match. It will be a bonus if they can beat Sudket/Saralee R32 vs Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam Devin Lahardi/Lita Nurlita -- tough also for Devin/Lita to clear R16 R32 vs Tsai Chia-Hsin/Cheng Shao-Chieh R16 vs Lee Yong Dae/Lee Hyo Jung Tantowi Ahmad/Yulianti -- this year, Towi/Yuli would have faced two top Chinese pairs already. Good experience for them! R32 vs Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen Anggun Nugroho/Endang Nursugianti -- nothing to expect from them....they could perhaps clear the first round R32 vs Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama/Chau Hoi Wah R16 vs Han Sang Hoon/Hwang Yu Mi
Sigh! The withdrawals of the top CHN WS players (XXF, ZN, ZL, LL) sure has made the WS event much less interesting.
Absolutely agree. But again, CHN has no reasons to send them to ABC coz CHN has filled up 3 WS spots for OG08 Well, the local fans are still the losing ones :crying:
Since they already knew this was the case, they should have withdrawn earlier instead of providing another headache to the organizers. As for the fans, ya, darn right they'll be the losers. Plus the top two KOR WS aren't there either.
