The draws have been released for the Alberta Open Badminton Championships, with matches starting at 11:00am.

First up is the men’s singles, with Mike Beres and Kyle Foley taking the first and second seeds respectively. There are a few dark horses who might be able to trouble these two players, but more than likely they’ll be the finalists.

Next the women’s singles has an extremely small draw with Jody Patrick and Isabelle Mercier Dalphond as the top two seeds. Almost certainly Patrick will win this event, unless Dalphond can surprise us all.

The men’s doubles really only has one possible contender for the title, Will Milroy and Mike Beres. Almost certainly none of the teams entered has a chance of beating them. Although with the 21 scoring system, anything could happen. Still the smart money is on Milroy and Beres.

The women’s doubles WILL be Jody Patrick and Helen Nichol. No possible argument there. Two Olympians against a bunch of juniors pretty much. No contest.

The mixed doubles will be Jon Vandervet and Jody Patrick. Even though Kyle Foley and Helen Nichol are first seeds, I just can’t see Foley beating Vandervet in a doubles event. The Vandervet hammer will conquer all.

There is a really interesting interview on the Badminton Players Federation website with Canada’s Andrew Dabeka and Will Milroy. Jonas brings these two Canadian National Champions onto Badminton Trash Talk TV, and drills them with questions. Andrew is the president of the Badminton Canada Players Association, and Will is the vice-president.

The entry deadline has come and gone for the upcoming Alberta Open here in Edmonton, and it doesn’t look like very many of the countries top players are coming. Mike Beres and Kyle Foley will probably be the top two seeds in the men’s singles, and for the ladies it’s looking like Jody Patrick will be the one to beat. Will Milroy and Mike Beres will surely be the ones to beat in the men’s doubles, and Will and Tammy Sun will probably take the mixed. Not sure about ladies doubles to be honest, I don’t really know any of the ladies doubles pairs. We might try and get some footage from the tournament on here, but we’ll have to see. The tournament is running from December 1st to 3rd.

Jonas managed to get Rexy Mainaky onto Trash Talk this week. Rexy makes some pretty interesting comments regarding badminton in Indonesia, Malaysia, and England. He sure seems to have some confidence in his game. Check out the episode on the Badminton Players Federation website.

The Badminton Players Federation website has some cool updates going on from the Danish Open 2006 Badminton Championships. A few interviews, and some other stuff too.