LI-NING China Masters 2009

The qualifying session begins on Tuesday.

Once again, it is the Chong Wei-Lin Dan expected semi-final clash which will be the eagerly anticipated encounter in Changzhou after the Malaysian suffered a shock quarter-final exit at the recent World Championships in Hyderabad.

Lin Dan had no such problems and went on to win the world title, his third, at the expense of teammate Chen Jin.

Initially both Chong Wei and Lin Dan were drawn in different halves but the men’s singles event was forced to a redraw following the withdrawal of Wacha Przemyslaw of Poland.

While Chong Wei’s coach, Misbun Sidek acknowledged the fact that the redraw was tough on his charge, he also highlighted the fact that it will be a folly to think about Lin Dan at this stage as the Malaysian’s path is littered with several dangerous opponents.

Players like Du Pengyu, Joachim Persson and Lu Qicheng are capable of raising their game and this could spell trouble for Chong Wei, the top seed.

In the women’s singles, Tine Rasmussen will have to contend with new Chinese sensation Wang Lin in the semi-final. But before that, the Dane will have to stop France’s Pi Hongyan, a former Chinese player, in an expected last eight match.

In the top half, another former Chinese star, Zhou Mi of Hong Kong, is the top seed. China were dealt a blow when Zhu Lin and Lu Lan were drawn to play each other in the first round but there is still the promising Wang Yihan to depend on as well.

In the men’s doubles, Korea’s Lee Yong Dae-Jung Jae Sung will get a chance to atone for their heartbreaking defeat in the final of the World Championships as they are expected to meet China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng in the final.

The Koreans were beaten by Cai-Fu in a thrilling three-game encounter in Hyderabad in one of the most memorable matches of the tournament but are the top seeds in Changzhou.

In the women’s doubles, dominated by pairs from China, the hosts are overwhelming favourites to win the title as they have several big names in the field.

Top seeds Shu Cheng-Zhao Yunlei, Olympic champions Du Jing-Yu Yang, the experienced Gao Ling-Wei Yili and Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen are all capable of winning the title.

Out to deny China will be a pool of relatively small number of pairs from Korea, Chinese Taipei and the Canada-Germany combination of Charmaine Reid-Nicole Grether.

The script is the same with Korea’s Lee Yong Dae-Lee Hyo Jung in the unenviable position of trying to win the title in a mixed doubles field that has 23 pairs from China.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 8:38 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0