Right, that was announced the same day as their retirement, which was the same day the M&Q lists for Korea came out. Lee/Yoo said it would be their last. So did Bae Yeon Ju but she has withdrawn. Those three and Kim Sa Rang are now off the list for the national team.
Is Jorgensen still in the tournament? If he is, he will be my favourite to win the tournament in the absences of the top guns.
Aiya, to think I am looking forward to their clash in the QFs, if they get that far. I've a feeling Sun Yu is going to beat her. Guess, have to wait until the DEN Open PSS, preferably in the early rounds as I don't want either of them to be upset by others before they meet.
Just found out on the updated draws that Sindhu has withdrawn, there goes my He Bingjiao - Sindhu matchup. Additionally, Bae YJ and Nozomi Okuhara are also withdrawn.
Barring unexpected defeats, on paper, Akane Y is likely to advance to the semifinals and awaiting her might be either He Bingjiao or Intanon R who are slated to meet for the 3rd time. In the top half, Sun Yu has to be careful of Lee Jang Mi and Tai Tzu Ying has to be wary of Aya Ohori. Barring upsets, Sun Yu might face off either Tai TY or Sung JH in the semis. Personally, I'm all for He BJ and Sun Yu to take on all the toughest opponents as often as possible in the hope that they can learn to overcome all of them in good time, thereby gaining in confidence and much-needed experience so as to rise as quickly as possible to fill the void left by Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian until Li Xuerui comes back , say, six months later. For this back-to-back SS, both HBJ and SY will be put to the test, esp in the fitness/stamina/endurance aspect as well as their ability to handle stress and unfamiliar opponents despite the pullout of the four well-established, highly experienced players which, in my opinion, does not necessarily make the tournament significantly easier as a number of the younger, promising players are hungry for success and capable of springing surprises, not forgetting a couple of the slightly older ones or even veterans such as Sayaka Sato.
Too bad, Shi Yuqi will miss another golden opportunity to take lessons from LCW. It'll be great for the youngster's progress to play LCW more often as it should enable him to realize his full potential in shorter time and, hopefully, hasten his rise to the top echelon, say top 5 more quickly and consistently.
WS draw is like Grand prix tournament. I have seen even a better tough draw for a GPG tournaments before. So many byes in the main draw. Not at all good for a superseries tournament. Is this Superseries premier tournament? This is the best way for the players in the WS to take the opportunity to grab the title.
Once in a blue moon we get a GPG tournament that happened to have a stronger turnout than certain SS tourneys but that's the exception rather than the rule. If the absence of the four confirmed participants , namely , LXR, WYH , WSX and Saina, is a standard feature for at least the next three to six months, why did a number of the remaining who aren't injured or retired choose to withdraw here? I'd argue there's no need to worry as the void will be quickly filled by new blood - isn't there already unmistakable signs of it last week? He Bingjiao, Sun Yu, Akane Y, among whom the first and last named denied Intanon Ratchok and Nozomi Okuhara, two highly-fancied WS, respectively. Say, for KOR WS, the retirement of Bae Yeon Ju will anytime be replaced by the younger cohort such as Lee Jang Mi, Kim Hyo Min, just to name two. Even, for CHN, both He Bingjaio and Sun Yu are fully capable of taking the place of WYH and WSX. For India, I believe P V Sindhu is as good if not better than Saina Nehwal, not to mention a couple others waiting at the wings, such as Ruthvika Gadde, Tanvi Lad, P C Tulasi, etc. Among the Japanese, Akane Yamaguchi is outstanding, she's just beaten Nozomi Okuhara at the JPN Open, and others like Aya Ohori, Ayumi Mine, just to name two, and not forgetting the older Sayaka Sato and Mitani Minatsu are not to be trifled with as well. Now that the Rio Olympic cycle is just over, it's normal and to be expected to have some old guards making way for the new, a renewal process occurring every few years usually coinciding with the Olympic cycle.
The Korea Open lost its Premier status before the 2014 season. This is basically a very familiar sight for post-Olympic Superseries events. At the 2008 China Masters, there were only 4 top ten players in MS and the world #65 WD pair got byes all the way through to the semi-finals! I believe the first M&Q lists for both Korea and Japan this year looked a little stronger than Japan and China Masters in 2012 but many of the withdrawals here seem exceptional with so many retirements and long-term injury layoffs. Actually, in the 2012 China Masters, the MS field had only 3 top ten players, all from China, and WS had 5 top ten players, 4 of whom were from China. In Korea, you have 5 in MS and 3 in WS even though Korea can't contribute as many as China can. As for the difference from Japan, this has been true every time the Korea Open or China Masters has been paired with the Japan Open. It used to happen in the spring, too, but now, after the Olympics or Worlds, you get Yonex-sponsored players like Sindhu, Sapsiree, Lee Chong Wei, Axelsen, Issara/Amitrapai, and Boe/Mogensen who need a break but play Japan anyway, then skip Korea. I'm not saying that causal relationship applies to each of those players individually, but in general in badminton, when money talks, it ain't the prize money.
And I thought that Japan WS had weak participation from elite players. Korea looks even worse. Still no sight of Sindhu and Marin and now even Nozomi has withdrew. Just 1 solid Qfinalist from Rio in SJH + Akane(but with her you don't know what you get; 1 match she outclasses NO and then she can loose to SY). Thank god that at least May has sticked around.
