The groups for the 2007 Sudirman Cup have been released and once again it looks like China will be the victors this year. Team China are seeded first with Team Denmark seeded second. Assuming the format of 5 matches (one per event), the only countries which I would say have a real chance are China, Denmark, and Indonesia. None of the other teams in group one have a legitimate chance to win three matches. Denmark has the potential to win men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Indonesia can win men’s singles, men’s doubles, and maybe mixed doubles (maybe). China can of course win all five events, and potentially with any of their teams (even back ups in most events). If Korea’s Lee Hyun Il was still playing regularly (he retired didn’t he???) they might be able to pull it off, but it’s unlikely.
In the majority of the lower groups it’s quite difficult to predict who will move up, but one thing I noticed was that India is in the third group, and I’d be surprised if they can’t move up. I think they are a really underrated country in terms of badminton results.
Team Canada has won the Gold despite missing their star player Mike Beres. Beres who is a triple threat (triple crown at Canadian Nationals this year, first time in decades apparently), flew back home to Brantford, Ontario (home of Wayne Gretzky) late last night to get married. However, the rest of the team was able to defeat the Americans 3-1. It would likely have been 3-2 had they played out the last match since the men’s doubles would have been missing Mike Beres. So my predictions were not far off really. The wins here that Canada got will give our players a great boost in their bid to qualify for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing next summer. The points earned here are huge, so Stefan, Anna as well as Mike and Will, should all get a good head start for the qualifying period.
Badminton is really starting to gain some popularity on the west coast of the USA and Canada. I came across this video on YouTube from a CBS News Affiliate doing a story on the growth of badminton in the Bay Area. They went to the Golden Gate Badminton Club to see what the fuss is about. The story is some serious fluff, but good to see that they aren’t mocking it like we might expect.
Here in Canada there was recently an article in the Globe and Mail about badminton in Richmond, although they neglected to mention the clubs that started it all, ClearOne and ClearTwo!!!
The individual events have finished and Canada has asserted itself as the dominant Pan Am nation so far with 4/5 individual titles, and was the only country with finalists in every event. The individual event finals were as follows:
Stefan Wojcikiewicz def Andrew Dabeka 21-17, 22-20
Anna Rice def Claudia Rivero 21-16, 21-11
Mike Beres and Will Milroy def Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong 21-13, 21-19
Charmaine Reid and Fiona McKee def Eva Lee 22-20, 17-21, 21-18
Howard Bach and Eva Lee def Mike Beres and Val Loker 21-18, 21-17
The team event is also underway but really it�s all about Canada and USA. Canada came out on top in the individual event tally, but that could change for the team event. Men�s singles is more than likely going to be Canada, as is the women�s singles. The real questions lie in the doubles events. Canada narrowly took the women�s doubles, so that could certainly go to the Americans. Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong could also turn the tables on Mike Beres and Will Milroy, although the Canadians were convincing in the individual event. Finally the mixed doubles could also go either way. So it could either be a 5-0 Canada win, or 3-2 for USA if they win all three doubles events. My prediction is in the middle, 4-1 for Canada… But wait, Mike Beres has left to get married!! Canada has lost it’s VIP for the team event, so Canada is almost certainly in danger or losing the men’s doubles event. This makes things much more interesting. Still, I predict Canada 3-2.
The Indonesia Badminton Association has alleged that Lin Dan’s absence from the recent Indonesia Open was not due to injury and that there was some premeditated reason for him not playing. China’s head coach Li Yongbo has insisted that this was not the case and that the decision not to play was a strategic adjustment to the whole year plan for Lin Dan.
There are rumours that Lin Dan might be trying to play mind games with Taufik leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing next summer, but I would think it is a little bit early for any of that. I think the organizers are just sour that Lin Dan didn’t show up and they lost spectator interest as a result.
Looks like Lee Chong Wei has managed to end his title drought after winning the Indonesia Open this past week. Lee beat the Bambi-like Bao Chunlai in the finals 21-15, 21-16. Along the way Lee also defeated Chen Hong in the semis and Bao defeated Taufik Hidayat. Taufik had been hoping to break Ardy Wiranata’s record of most Indonesia Open titles (I think it is 6), but Bao ended those hopes.
In the men’s doubles it was Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng who managed to take back to back titles by defeating surprise finalists Latif and Tazari from Malaysia. Cai and Fu defeated Malaysian superpair Koo and Tan in the semis.
Wang Chen stunned the Chinese women by winning the women’s singles, but that would be the only title that China would fail to win.
Looks like Lin Dan should stick to his finer talents, like playing badminton. This video looks to be from some sort of festival in China with the badminton team performing. I wonder if there are videos from other players??
Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana has won the 2007 Singapore Open. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I know Boonsak is a respectable player, but I really did not think he would win. His quarter-final win over Lin Dan was extremely clutch, winning 21-17, 7-21, 23-21. From there it was smooth sailing as he knocked off hometown favourite Ronald Susilo and then Chen Yu in the final, both matches were not particularly close either. I had predicted a Gade vs Lin Dan final, but both players failed me. Gade lost yet again to Chen Yu, as he did in Denmark earlier this year. I get the feeling like Gade is getting to a point in his career where he needs to really start picking his tournaments, much like Taufik. He doesn’t have that same ability he used to, where he could play at his best all year round. Although, with the new Super Series structure I’m not sure even Lin Dan can do that anymore.
Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng won the men’s doubles. The real big disappointment to me was Gunawan and Wijaya losing to them in the semi-finals. China really isn’t that strong in the doubles usuallly, but they have a pair that can really do damage again. It’s been a while since they had this, and I don’t see their second string doubles players filling in the void either, so they had better enjoy it while it lasts.
As for the women’s doubles and singles, I couldn’t be more bored by the constant domination by China. I have a load of respect for their team, not so much for the rest of the world though. It’s like having a whole team of Williams sisters just kicking everyones asses(back when they were good), but not really trying that hard against each other, or defaulting regularly based on what the coach says. Zhang Ning beat Xie Xingfang, and then Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili won the doubles.
The mixed doubles does offer some surprises from time to time, but I don’t really enjoy mixed all that much. Indonesia’s Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa won that event.
The Indonesia Open is up next, but also this coming week here in Canada we have the U19 and U23 Nationals going on, and there is a good chance we will be down to watch, and might even take our cameras along to catch the finals. We will keep you posted.
Peter Gade easily defeated Taufik Hidayat in the second round of the 2007 Singapore Open. The first game was close with Gade winning 21-18, but the second was much quicker at 21-12. Gade will now play his fellow Dane, Kenneth Jonassen in the quarter-finals. I knew Gade would take this match, Taufik just can’t be bothered to really try unless it is a really big event like Worlds or Olympics, unless he is playing Indonesia Open. Wong Choong Han is also doing well after beating Japan’s Shoji Sato. Now he plays Chen Yu in the quarter-finals. Hopefully he won’t have to go through qualifying eventually, cause he has had a lot of decent results in the Super Series.
On the other side of the draw there were some surprises with Hafiz Hashim, Chen Jin and Sony Dwi Kuncoro all losing to Boonsak Ponsana, Kendrick Lee and Ronald Susilo respectively. Chen Jin losing is a really big surprise to me, he is usually quite clutch. At this stage I think I can predict a Lin Dan vs Peter Gade final. These two seem to be quite strong this week, but who knows, cause the Super Series seem to be full of surprises.
In the men’s doubles my favourites Gunawan and Wijaya just crushed their opponents Guo and Xie 21-14, 21-7 to book their quarter-finals spot. They will likely have to play China’s Cai and Fu in the semi-finals. It’s too bad they couldn’t be on the other side of the draw, I think these are the two strongest teams at this tournament. Anyway, more on the 2007 Singapore Open tomorrow. Oh ya, almost forgot, China is killing everyone in the women’s events, and also have three pairs remaining in the mixed doubles. How unpredictable!
Super Series Results Page
2007 Singapore Open Official Website
Malaysia�s Lee Chong Wei has continued his sucking streak as he lost first round in Singapore to his teammate Hafiz Hashim. Hafiz won the match in three really close games, 16-21, 21-18, 22-20!! Another surprise was the loss of Chen Hong to Indonesia�s Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Kuncoro really hasn�t had many big wins since the early days of his career, but it should be kept in mind that Chen Hong has announced his retirement, and might be gone pretty soon.
(Lee Ponders His Sucking)
Now the big match to watch will be Peter Gade against Taufik Hidayat. This should be an interesting match up. These guys haven�t played each other in a long time, so it�s hard to predict. Plus Taufik is impossible to predict in terms of whether he will even try or not. He went three games in the first round against some unknown Malaysian. My pick is Gade, simply because this isn�t a big event, and Taufik rarely seems to care except when he has picked a particular tournament as his target. Just watch, next Olympics he will be unseeded, and end up knocking out Lin Dan first round or something. Read the rest of this entry »
