Venue : Hong Kong Coliseum, Kowloon-HKG SAR, China Total prize money : US$350,000 Tournament information : http://www.hkbadmintonassn.org.hk/en...hong-kong-open HKG time : http://www.worldtimezone.com/time/wt...ma=Find%20Time FINAL Order of Play (01.00pm) => http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...C97B56-47EC-4612-9850-455FB7F5DA5B&d=20141123 China has representative in all categories except WS and XD title goes to one of their pair. CHN flop in WS discipline is continued as none of their player entering final round in the absence of their ace Li Xuerui. On the other side, we see interesting fact as last week Akane Tamaguchi was out as runner-up in Fuzhou and this week Nozomi Okuhara cruises for HKG final, what a nice improvement by Japanese youngsters! WD, Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (JPN, seed #1) v Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (CHN, 2) Head-to-head stats : 2-8 It's going to the script when top two seeds face off at final day. Both pairs are so familiar each other and last week they also met each other at semifinal stage. Will JPN pair take revenge today? WS, Tai Tzu Ying (TPE, 6) v Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) H-2-H : 0-0 The former world junior champion Okuhara has surprised us to knock out some potential names, Sindhu, Yamaguchi and the biggest one reigning WC Carolina Marin. Tai Tzu Ying is losing of her touch in some SS lately but she retuns to top here. Looking forward to exciting clash beetween these two young stars. MS, Chen Long (CHN, 1) v Son Wan Ho (KOR, 6) H-2-H : 7-2 A rematch of DEN SSP Final when Chen Long prevailed in two close games. High possibility this match may extend to extra game, both of them have really solid defense. Chen L was forced to work hard yesterday by highly developed Srikanth while Son WH stunned Jorgensen in straight-sets only. Both Son and Chen failed to produce their best in Fuzhou last week. XD, Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei (CHN, 1) v Xu Chen/Ma Jin (CHN, 2) H-2-H : 17-2 Two CHN best XD are unstoppable and they meet once again in last round. Long rivarly between them and limping head-to-head in favour to ZZ. MD, Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan (CHN, 6) v Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (INA, 2) H-2-H : 2-0 Ahsan/Setiawan must apply best strategy how to block the fast and furious attack by Liu/Qiu, this final encounter may go to rubber as they did yesterday. Seems INA pair hasn't yet back to their top-form after won Incheon AG Gold last September, Liu/Qiu also never won SS title since IND Open SS in April last year.
Going to uh...go out on a limb and hope Liu/Qiu can take it vs INA pair who I don't think are performing particularly well this wk
You might want to check/consider two things for the MD: 1. Head to Head record (China pair lead INA pair 2-0) 2. It's not a major tournament (Ahsan/Setiawan only play properly when the tournament is along the calibre of World Champs, All England, Asian Games etc) Anyway, wonder if Zhao/Zhang will inflict a 15th straight defeat to their team-mates. It will be 17th straight time if you discount the loss by retirement. Crazy stuff.
Wohhhh.. So we are again treated with long long longgg rallies in the very first match... MM/AT are good combined pair..but they take lots of time against very low ranked pairs also..CHN should take it. They have better attack And ZYL's instinct is by far unstoppable
Thanks to suetyan again, this livestream is still working http://www.ballbar.cc/LiveHtml/IBF-Tour-race_1119145519.htm
Hawkeye have some "logistic" problem coming here from China (open). but they are supposed to have it today.
Again, Gill Clark letting her bias come in the way of her reasoning. 1. The Japanese are the number one because the two pairs better than them haven't played enough. 2. They have reached so many finals and not won as many precisely because the other two pairs haven't played enough. 3. Their realistic ranking should be 3, which is in line with their achievements.
Have the players forgotten Hawk-Eye is here today? Maybe the umpire should remind them. GC explained that there was some logistical problem getting Hawk-Eye over from CHN (Open?) to the HK Open.
Ayaka is doing a lot of work. Masaki's strength is not an outright kill at the net (like ZYL), but her ability to place the shuttle in the most painful location in the opponents' court.
One clarification : I'm not at all pro China, but may appear to some members because the accepted default discourse is totally anti China. Which aactually I can understand and sympathise with.
