BWF WORLD SUPER SERIES - YONEX FRENCH OPEN: China's top guns make a return

Usually, Asians either travel to both European events, or none. This time, after their National Games, most of the Chinese shuttlers had withdrawn from the Denmark Open – a shame considering the quality of the organization.

But the French organizers can be reassured – the whole Chinese team is already in Paris, ready to take on the other best shuttlers in the world.

The men’s singles will have a very strong line up in spite of the absence of the 2007 champion Lee Chong Wei, who is still undergoing treatment in Malaysia after his knee injury became more troublesome in the recent Yonex Japan Open.

Top seed will then be Lin Dan, a spot he’s had left for quite some time in spite of his Olympic Gold medal – the Chinese, having played a lot less tournaments than his direct rivals had slipped down the ranking.

This time, the Chinese will hope to shine in an event he’s never won, having skipped 2008 and beaten in 2007’s semi-finals by Bao Chunlai. After having scooped a second National Games title in Qindao last week, Lin Dan might have to start the tournament on a high note : he could be playing Anup Shridar or Anand Pawar from India, who are to play against each other in the qualifying – unless Ireland’s Scott Evans or Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen pull an upset on Tuesday.

The Chinese would then probably face Hans Kristian Vinttinghus of Denmark “I hope he shows up and if he does, I’d absolutely would love to play and beat him,” said Vitthingus, before adding : “ but I will be aware of my first round against qualifying player as there is no easy rounds in Super Series”. Lin Dan could then meet Joachim Persson in the quarter – if Simon Santoso allows that to happen, while Chen Jin and Wong Choong Hann are set to play each other in the other quarter-final. Chen, however, will take on last week’s Hero, Marc Zwiebler, in his first round.

The lower part of the draw will be quite interesting as well. With Peter Gade as second seed and Jan Jorgensen as a potential opponent for the great Dane, giving Gade the perfect opportunity to avenge his defeat in Odense last week.

No easy path, then for the great Dane. And, also, in the semi final, awaits the shadow of Taufik HIdayat, which could be a rematch of last’s year final, where Hidayat had blamed a blister on his foot for his last game loss. Taufik has the easiest draw in theory, with Hafiz, Chan Yan Kit and Chen Long in his part, who are good shuttlers on paper, but who have failed to prove much on the court lately.

In the women’s singles, Pi Hongyan will be hoping to shine in front of her home crowd, as she had in 2007 when she had reached the final, bowing only to Xie Xingfang in the final. This time, no Xie, No Zhang Ning to get in her way, but just herself as she 30 year old has been feeling in a poor form.

And her draw could see her play Eriko Hirose as the Japanese has to go through qualifying to make it to the main draw in spite of her recent semi-finals in Japan and Denmark. China’s Wang Lin and Wang Yihan will be eager to shine, with the former coming from Qindao with a golden medal around her neck after she was crowned in her home National Games.

Wang Lin will take on Japan’s new rising star Sayaka Sato in the first round to hope for a quarter final revenge against Saina Nehwal, who had beaten her in Indonesia this year. Wang Yihan is seeded third and has no easy task as she is to play her younger compatriot Wang Xin as early as the first round before a potential quarter final against the world Champion Lu Lan.

The men’s doubles draw looks pretty much the same as last week in Denmark with one extra adding – not the least- China’s Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng. The Olympic silver medalists are back together after having split last year in the French Open, and once again few weeks ago when they represented their provinces in the China National Games.

Cai Yun had beaten his partner Fu in the men’s doubles final, but their reunification for the event held in Paris could be bad news for their opponents, who didn’t look in their best forms – except Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen and Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong.

Top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan are on for two rounds against Japanese pairs probably, while the highlight of the first rounds will be a match between 5^th seeds Fairuzizuan/Abdul Latif and the newer Indonesian pair of Yonathan Dasuki and Rian Sukmawan.

Even when they sent only one scratch pair, China dominated the women’s doubles in Denmark last week, with Pan Pan and Zhang Yawen crowned champions in Odense. This week in Paris, three other pairs – better on paper – will be entering the draw – no good news for the rest of the world. Especially since the Koreans have not entered, it might be an all China affair, with the draw giving only one quarter left without a Chinese pair – a part of the draw which could see Lena Frier Kristiansen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (for their last tournament together), Greysia Polii/Maheswari or Japan’s Miyuki Maeda/Satoko Suetsuna come on top.

Malaysia’s Chin and Wong are top seed and start with a Bye but can expect a tough fight from Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli as early as the quarters. Olympic Champions Du Jing and Yu Yang might have to play their compatriots Zhang and Pan in the quarters while Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei are promised a semi final spot in the lower part of the draw.

The mixed double event should be quite open. If Korea’s Lee Young Dae and Lee Hyo Jung are missing, and the duo of Thomas Laybourn/Juhl probably to skip as well unless Laybourn’s knee recovered fasters than expected, all other top pairs are in the draw. China’s Zheng Bo and Ma Jin are back on top of the draw, with Antony Clark and Donna Kellogg as second rounds potential opponents.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 12:28 PM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0