YONEX-SUNRISE BWF World Championships 2009 - Chong Wei avoids Lin Dan in quarters

Malaysia’s World No 1 Lee Chong Wei avoided a potentially hazardous quarter-final meeting with arch rival Lin Dan in the YONEX-SUNRISE BWF World Championships 2009 while India’s Saina Nehwal’s has to overcome China’s Wang Lin if she is to realise her goal of winning a medal.

Lin Dan’s sliding world rankings, No 5 at the time of the seeding, coupled with teammate’s Chen Jin’s No 2 billing, meant that there was a possibility of a last eight clash between the Chinese and the Malaysian at next month’s championships in Hyderabad.

The championships, which have attracted 330 players over five disciplines, will be played at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad from 10 to 16 August.

Chong Wei will play against Germany's unseeded player Dieter Domke in the opening match but faces a tricky third round match against Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh, who beat the Malaysian at last month’s Singapore Open.

The draw for the YONEX-SUNRISE BWF World Championships 2009 was held in Delhi and witnessed by India’s Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Dr M.S. Gill, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell.

Also present were BWF Deputy President Paisan Rangsikitpho, BWF Secretary General Stuart Borrie, Sunrise Sports Managing Director D.K. Seth and India’s former greats Prakash Padukone and P. Gopichand.

Prakash picked Chong Wei or Lin Dan to make it to the final.

"It is difficult to predict but Lin Dan and Chong Wei are considered my favourites. Both have very good chances, but the field is wide open," he said at the draw ceremony.

Other top single players to watch are Peter Gade from Denmark and Indonesia's former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat.

Lin Dan, winner in 2006 and 2007, opens his defence of his men's singles title against unseeded Misha Zilberman of Israel. The world championships is held annually except during an Olympic Games year.

Fifth-seeded Lin could face 11th-seeded compatriot Bao Chunlai in the third round of the elite event.

In the women’s singles, Saina, India’s local hope, received a bye in the first round and is expected to play Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva in the third round before a potentially classic match against No 2 seed Wang Lin of China in the quarter-finals.

Saina became the first Indian female player to win a Grand Prix gold title and last month bagged the Indonesia Open Super Series, a tournament which features the top 32 players in the world. Incidentally, the Indian beat Wang Lin to claim the singles crown.

Gopichand, who is also India’s national chief coach, said Saina received a good draw and the immediate target was to make the semi-finals.

However, he was quick to add that there were many players of high calibre who were capable of causing upsets.

“A top player can play five per cent below his or her best while his or her opponent may be able to raise their level of play and this could spell trouble for the favourite,” said Gopichand.

“It is a world class field and we have seen in the past how some of the favourites have been shown the exit in the Super Series and Olympics.”

In the men's singles, India's 15th seed Chetan Anand will face South Korea’s Hong Ji Hoon in the first round while Arvind Bhat plays Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Yu Hsing Hsieh. P. Kashyap will take on Iran's Ali Shahhoseini.

Seven of the top eight women's seeds received a first-round bye.

Hong Kong’s No 1 seed Zhou Mi opens her campaign against the winner of the match between Nanna Brosolat of Denmark and New Zealand’s Michelle Chan in the second round.

Sponsors, YONEX-SUNRISE, also unveiled the team shirts for the Indian national team.

China bagged three of the five titles at the previous World Championships, in Kuala Lumpur two years ago - men's singles, women's singles and women's doubles - while Indonesia triumphed in the men's and mixed doubles.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:32 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0