Canada’s Will Milroy was the player of the tournament when he won both the mens doubles and mixed doubles titles with partners Mike Beres and Tammy Sun. Milroy and Beres had to play Germany’s Tesche and Cassel in the finals and won the match 21-17, 21-14. In the mixed doubles Milroy and Sun had to play fellow Canadians Beres and Loker in the final. Milroy and Sun won a somewhat bitter sweet victory as Beres and Loker are in a heated Olympic qualification hunt with Americans Bach and Lee who are only a few spaces ahead of them in the race. The final score was 21-15, 21-5 contrary to what the draw says (I got first hand reports from Tammy Sun’s brother on the score).
In the mens singles it was Malaysian Lee Tsuen Seng who took the title with a win over Japan’s Endo Hiryuki 21-13, 21-18. Lee had previously defeated Canada’s Andrew Dabeka 21-13, 21-15 in the semi-finals. Andrew is also in the hunt for an Olympic qualification spot, and should benefit greatly from his great results here and at the US Open last week. The womens doubles and singles were both won by Koreans with Hwang Yu Mi and Ha Jung Eun winning the doubles and Lee Yun Hwa winning the singles.
Full Canadian Open Badminton 2007 Results
Will Milroy (right) at 2006 Commonwealth Games with Philippe Bourret
So far Canada is doing pretty in Saskatoon, with Andrew Dabeka, Bobby Milroy and Stephan Wojcikiewicz all remaining in the mens singles draw and Anna Rice, Charmaine Reid and recent Royal Glenora Club addition Sun Yang all still alive in the womens singles draw. The doubles draws have yet to post any results at this point in time. None of the singles players have really been tested yet, but with Bobby and Stephan set to play each other next round things should get interesting. My prediction is that Bobby will win this one because quite frankly I want him to. Stay tuned for more updates on the Canadian Open 2007.
The Canadian Open is about to start (a couple hours from now actually) and it looks to be one of the best entries for an international event in Canada for a long time. Not since the likes of Hoyer Larsen, Camilla Martin and Yap Kim Hock came back in the 90’s has there been this level at a Canadian tournament (a Canadian tournament that was IBF sanctioned, the Badminton Revolution Cup however had better than this, but not as big). The tournament should be really exciting, unfortunately we will be unable to get out there to tape any of it, which is a real shame, but hopefully somebody does tape some. If you’re looking to see some of the draws I have posted a link to the draws at the bottom of this post.
With the US Open just last week, and a tight qualification race for Olympics, a lot of really strong players have decided to play this week. Some of these players include Lee Tsuen Seng, Sairul Amar Ayob, and Richard Vaughn in the mens singles as well as a number of Japanese and Korean players. This is a great opportunity for our Canadian players to get some valuable Olympic ranking points, so hopefully they can take some titles.
Wow, now that is a big upset. Ireland’s Scott Evans defeated Japan’s Shoji Sato 21-15, 21-14 at the US Open. I saw Shoji Sato beat Taufik Hidayat when I was in Tokyo for the Thomas Cup last year. This guy is no joker, he is a legitimate top 20 player, and Scott Evans is not somebody I would expect to beat him. Unfortunately for Scott he lost the very next round to Canada’s Andrew Dabeka in a very close three games 21-14, 10-21, 24-22! Scott is Ireland’s best player, maybe their best ever (according to Bobby Milroy he is). This will really help Andrew’s Olympic qualifying run. Not sure how big the US Open is in terms of points, but it can’t hurt to make the semis, even Malaysia’s Sairul couldn’t muster the testosterone to get this far (perhaps he is lacking some after going off of the juice, just speculating).
The American’s top doubles pair of Bach and Malaythong had the benefit of a good draw and top seed getting upset which has helped them to make it to the semis while Canada’s Milroy and Beres have been knocked out in the quarter finals. Also, Bach and Malaythong have the benefit of playing their teammates Gunawan and Rai who no doubt will tank the match to help their teammates. A similar situation in the mixed as well with Beres and Loker losing while Bach and Lee will be playing Gunawan and his partner in the semis. Hopefully Canadian Open will be better for our Canadian pairs.
If you are interested I have tracked down Scott Evans official website. He is an interesting character, with a serious temper on court. Also, my dad apparently played badminton with his dad back in the day in Ireland.
The Thailand Open 2007 will begin starting next week with 3 of China’s top men’s players ready to dominate. Last year’s winner Chen Yu is back again at the tournament where he upset then world number 1 Lee Chong Wei en route to taking the title. He will have to watch out for Chen Jin and Chen Hong. So it looks like a battle of the Chen’s this year. Also not to be forgotten is hometown favourite, and fourth seed Boonsak Ponsana who recently won the Singapore Open Super Series event(where he beat Chen Yu actually). As usual we’re not too concerned (or interested) in the other events, especially since this isn’t a worlds or Super Series event. The men’s doubles is missing most of the top pairs, with Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah as the top ranked pair at this tournament. Here is a clip from the Singapore Open final where Boonsak Ponsana played Chen Yu. Enjoy!
On the other side of the world their is yet another minor BWF tournament that has just finished, but by no means were the players of a minor caliber. The Cheers Asian Satellite featured very few players from outside Asia and the titles were split between Malaysia and Korea. The final results were as follows:
Mens Singles: Chun Seang Tan def Kwong Beng Chan
Womens Singles: Jae Youn Jun def Youn Joo Bae
Mens Doubles: Chung Chiat Koo and Hun Pin Chang def Bona Septano and Mohammad Ahsan
Womens Doubles: Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim def Puspita Richi Dili and Cj Yulianti
Mixed Doubles: Gun Woo Cho and Min Jung Kim def Yeon Seong Yoo and Jung Eun Ha
Of note was Roslin Hashim who failed to take this title in spite of his first seed position. This further damages Roslin’s ranking after being left out of two Super Series tournaments due to a administrative error by the Badminton Assocation of Malaysia (BAM).
Wow, that’s a mouthful for someone who doesn’t speak much French. Le Volant D’Or Toulouse Open has made it’s way to the finals and here are the matches:
Mens Singles: Wacha Przemyslaw vs Petr Koukal
Womens Singles: Tracey Hallam vs Anna Rice
Mens Doubles: Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen vs Kristoff Hopp and Ingo Kindervater
Womens Doubles: Ellin Berglom and Johanna Persson vs Elodie Eymard and Reny Rahmawati
Canadians Will Milroy and Tammy Sun have been knocked out of the mixed doubles event in the first round. Milroy and Sun who were first seeds, were defeated by Kristian Roebuck and Jenny Wallwork of England in three games 15-11, 4-15, 15-11. Also defeated was Kyle Foley, also in three games. Foley was defeated by Nathan Rice also of England 15-4, 12-15, 15-8. Stefan Wojcikiewicz was defeated by another Englishman, 15-10, 15-1. Valerie St. Jacques lost to Rachel Van Cutsen of the Netherlands11-4, 11-5, and Florence Lavoie lost to Englands Jill Pittard 11-1, 11-0.
Still remaining are Will Milroy and Mike Beres, who are first seeds in the men’s doubles event, Amelie Felx and Florence Lavoie, Lindsay Smith and Tammy Sun, and Sarah MacMaster and Valerie Loker all remain in the women’s doubles. As well Mike Beres and Valerie Loker are still alive in mixed doubles.
A notable mention is Carl Baxter formerly of Canada who faces Poland’s Wacha Przemyslaw in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles. Carl was a qualifier at this tournament representing England.
Scottish High Performance Coach Dan Travers blasted his country’s top men’s players, saying they aren’t working hard enough. “I don’t really feel sorry for the boys,” said the former Commonwealth Games gold medallist. “They think they work hard, but they don’t. Nowadays, unless you give up everything for badminton then you are not going to succeed. There has to be no socialising - badminton has to be your whole life.” Travers was also quoted as saying that although the men’s team needs to work harder, the women’s team is much weaker. Full Story
For full results from the Bank of Scotland Scottish International Championships Click Here.
M. Hariawan won the men’s singles final at the 2005 Sports Experts Canadian Open. Hariawan won in three games 15-10, 5-15, 15-8, and was the only non-korean to take a title. In the other 4 events Koreans played Koreans.
