2016 Badminton Asian Championships (Wed, 27 April)

Nothing big surprise is emerged in mixed doubles first round, the closest tie involved former world number three Malaysian pair Chan PS/Goh LY v Shin BC/Chae YJ, the Korean sealed the last sixteen spot in rubber games.

Three men's singles biggest stars in the contemporary era, two-time World Champion Chen Long (1st seed), two-time Olympic Champion Lin Dan (2) and two-time Olympic Games silver medalist Lee Chong Wei (3) always be the strong contender for all tournaments including this continental championships. Top-seed Chen has tricky opening round against Korean promising star Jeon Hyeok Jin, Malaysian hero Lee CW should have no problem to eliminate 2010 edition runner-up Wang Zhengming also title-holder Lin Dan is expected to eliminate Indonesian youngster Ihsan Maulana Mustofa. Barring any upsets, the much-anticipated Lin-Lee clash will happen at semifinal here. Other names who occupy seeding position, Tian Houwei (5), Chou Tien Chen (6) Tommy Sugiarto (7) and Srikanth Kidambi (8) may hope to make some noises and spring upset in this event. Two players have withdrawn, Kento Momota (JPN/4th seed) and Kashyap Parupalli (IND), Taiwanese Wang Tzu Wei also Singaporean Derek Wong Zi Liang were promoted to replace their vacant slot in main draw.
R/32 highlights : Tian Houwei (CHN) v Son Wan Ho (KOR), Takuma Ueda (JPN) v Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA), Anthony Ginting (INA) v Vincent Wong Wing Ki (HKG), Hu Yun (HKG) v Sho Sasaki (JPN), Lee Dong Keun (KOR) v Srikanth Kidambi (IND)

The fierce competition at stake in women’s singles discipline, new world number one Ratchanok Intanon is hot favourite to defend title considering her fantastic Superseries hat-trick recently followed by current All England champion Nozomi Okuhara and home ace, the reigning Olympic Champion Li Xuerui. BAC this year also will decide three home players fate, Li XR and two Wangs – Shixian and Yihan to fight for Olympic ticket as they have slim margin in Race to Rio ranking. Former champion Sung Ji Hyun, Indian mega star Saina Nehwal and Chinese Taipei talent Tai Tzu Ying complete the top 8 seed in this department.
R/32 highlights : Li Xuerui (CHN) v Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA), Goh Jin Wei (MAS) v Akane YAmaguchi (JPN), Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) v Sun Yu (CHN), Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) v Busanan Ongbumrungpan (THA)

Top-two seeds, Lee YD/Yoo YS and Ahsan/Setiawan have no perfect start in this new season as both of them are still hunting first Superseries title. The meeting of these two high-profile pairs in final will face tough challenge, Lee/Yoo start their campaign against Lee SM/Tsai CH then they’re slated to meet Pratama/Suwardi in last eight and either Chai B/Hong W or teammates Kim GJ/Kim SR at semifinal. The Indonesian top-ranked Ahsan/Setiawan will find real test at last eight as Endo/Hayakawa are their possible opponent and either newly-crowned Singapore Superserier winner Fu HF/Zhang N or former champion Ko SH/Shin BC in last four. The scenario may change as men’s doubles category is quite unpredictable, the underdogs often stun those established names.
R/32 highlights : Chai B/Hong W (CHN) v Kamura/Sonoda (JPN), Fu HF/Zhang N (CHN) v Angriawan/Saputra (INA)

The Asian Champion title for women’s doubles discipline may not far from these four pairs, Matsutomo/Takahashi, Maheswari/Polii and two Chinese leading combinations, Tang YT/Yu Y and the Olympic Champion Tian Q/Zhao YL. An early meeting between two title contenders will pit Tang/Yu and Maheswari/Polii at last sixteen, the winner of this tie then will face either Jung KE/Shin SC or Matsuo/Naito in quarterfinal and 2014 champion Luo twins sisters or 2015 WC bronze medalist Fukuman/Yonao are their next possible opponent. At top-half of draw, the world number one Matsutomo/Takahashi is predicted to cruise into semifinal but dangerous home young duo Chen QC/Jia YF may trouble them at second round. Fourth seed Tian/Zhao also are favoured to fulfill their seeding position, Awanda/Istirani, Chang YN/Lee SH or Fukushima/Hirota are their possible rivals en route to last four. Go AR/Yoo HW pulled out then Supajirakul/Taerattanachai advance to next round without playing, also three pairs get first round bye, Matsutomo/Takahashi (1st seed), Luo Ying/Luo Yu (2) and Tian Q/Zhao YL (4).
R/32 highlights : Gutta/Ponnappa (IND) v Chang YN/Lee SH (KOR)

 

Predicting LDK to defeat Srikanth, its only getting worse...

 

Son vs Tian should be a close one. Son is getting back to his old form, becoming a very serious opponent for everyone, and he can hope for a world ranking of 6 if he maintains his good results (he is 9 now if we take out Momota).
Tian, a direct contestant for this number 6 rank, is slowing down a bit after a very good start this year ; he might look for a second start here and impose himself as the definitive number 3 in CHN team.

 

I would not be surprised if Sun Yu goes to SF, and beat May. The way she played at China Masters against LXR, she has the fitness, with long limbs that compensate for being out of position so many times, and I have never seen her smash so much in one match that anytime before, I rank her as the dark horse. LXR is coming to RIO form, the speed and power she showed at CM and she has improved her fitness vastly. That match against SY, I really thought that LXR would not last that punishing fast pace, it was all out from the first point....both players are very fit, very entertaining match.

 

Christie should take advantage of his relatively easier draw here (compared to his teammates). And Ihsan, once again, is the unlucky one, meeting the mighty Lin Dan in the first round.

 

From all of the events, I feel WS is the one that feels no different compared to usual superseries, since the only notable players left out here is Marin. On the other hand, the WS field in European championship is amazingly weak. It's like giving free points to Marin.

 

Yes this you are right. It is really giving free points to Marin. Since the status of European championship is equivalent to grand prix gold, it is important to note that she will gain a lot of points as the winner of the WS category and hence her ranking will increase.

 

It's a shame that Maheswari/Polii have to meet Tang/Yu at the second round. I feel like Tang/Yu should take Luo twins seeding instead.

 

And Wang Zhengming will be (most likely) out in the first round, again... It's like his career is doomed.

 

Exactly, she got loads of free points from the Team Champs earlier this year too!
But whose complaining, she has already suffered a whole host of drawbacks of representing a not so "badminton friendly" nation... She deserves every single pt

 

You might never know. This may be his last song and he retires after this so he will fight tooth and nail vs. LCW.

 

is there any live stream we can watch? or nothing at all ?

 

is there any live streaming, anyone know the link?

 

Haven't found any stream :/ Live streaming is probaby gonna start later on.

Sun Yu v Sung Ji Hyun seems to be a tough fight. SJH leading 18-16. I'm not surprised, SJH is very dangerous in R1 when she has full energy

 

G1 won by SJH 21-17 !

 

such a pity this kind of high level tournament no live streaming at all

 

Sung Ji Hyun running with it now G2 14-9

 

http://www.starsports.com/badminton/leagues/badminton-asia-championships-2016-40000015/index.html

It is blocked here in U.K. May give a try, might work for someone

 

This is a link for the asia team championship from last month This one is the individual championship.

I think there is no streaming :'(