US$50,000 Event Is So Strong Kiwis End Up In Qualifying

Some New Zealand badminton players are finding themselves in the unusual position of having to play qualifying for the first time in their lives when the US$50,000 New Zealand Badminton Open a world Grand Prix event starting next week at the North Shore Events Centre.

 

New rules set in place by the world governing body BWF require the women’s singles draw to be no more than 32 places – four of those going to qualifying while the men’s singles draw is 64 singles. There is qualifying for the mixed as well.

 

The women’s singles qualifying includes 16 players from five different nations with North Harbour player Melissa Yin, a member of the New Zealand junior team set to try her hand at qualifying along with other players from the greater Auckland region, Mikayla Moore, Michelle HK Chan and Maggie Chan.

 

With the main draws now completed the strength of the tournament is truly shown with players from 18 nations entered including 15 men’s singles players ranked inside the top-100 in the 64-player draw. Yan Kit Chan from Hong Kong will head the field with a current ranking of No9 in the world, having been a quarter-finalist at the Korean and Malaysian Super-series tournaments earlier this year.

 

Andre Kuriawan Tedjano from Indonesia at No18 was also a quarterfinalist at the Korean and Malaysian Super-series tournaments 2009. While 2006 and 2008 winner of the New Zealand Open, Tseun Seng Lee at No21 from Malaysia returns to defend his title. Another familiar player is England’s Andrew Smith, currently ranked 29.

 

New Zealand No1 Joe Wu plays American Daniel Gouw in the first round, rising star Bjorn Seguin from the Waikato takes on India’s Aditya Elango.

 

In the women’s draw Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip at 22 in the world is the top seed followed by Magumi Taruno(Japan) at 29. There are five top 50 ranked women in the singles. The best

ranked New Zealander is Michelle Chan at 75. In total there are 43 entrants. Rachel Hindley(North Harbour) who made the final last year before losing to the world No1 plays fourth seed Maria Kusumastuti(Indonesia) in the first round.

 

“The depth of the tournament is just amazing,” says event director and former Commonwealth Games badminton rep, Julie Carrel(nee Still) “there is a large group of Indonesian players who add significant strength to the tournament along with some new faces from Japan and India too, while the Malaysians will again be strong. To have 15 men’s singles players in the top-100 is fantastic while a dozen top-100 women as well as qualifying draws proves how the event is growing in stature.”

 

The men’s doubles will be a highlight for its quick play especially. The speed of the shuttlecock has been registered at well over 300kph. The powerful veteran Kiwi pair of John Gordon and Dan Shirley are forming up again and are likely to play an Indonesian pair in the second round with a potential clash against the top-seeded Indian pair in the quarters if they can make it that far.

 

One combination which is always entertaining to watch is the Kiwi mixed team of Henry Tam(Auckland) and Donna Haliday(Auckland). They play Australians Ben Walklate and Kate Wilson Smith in the first round with plenty of fireworks expected.

 

Qualifying and some main draw matches start at 1pm Tuesday 28 July with matches progressing until the finals on Sunday 2 August.