I think you can only blame it on the date of the tournament. Singapore Open 2006 is just right in the middle. For players who want to play as many tournaments as possible from Philippines Open to Taipei Open will choose to rest Singapore Open because of it's date of the tournament. Players cant possible attend all 5 as this will be too tiring for them. (According to Thai Team ) I agree with Khelben that countries like Korea and China are using the Singapore Open as a platform to improve the rankings of their more "junior" players. I guess different teams have different opinions regarding this matter. I also disagree that Singapore fails to attract top players. Singapore Open has been a "class" and "quality" event for many years. Those who watched it will also know. For the past few years, it has been attracting many top players all over the world to participate in it. Only for this year,some players choose to give it a miss. Not that top players pursposely choose to attend a 4 star tournament instead of a 5 star one. I think the big problem lies in the date after all. Let's see what happen next year.
The number of stars doesn't matter! All England has always been a 4-star tournament and it has ALWAYS attracted the best players. Similarly, both Singapore and Malaysia Opens have had long histories. Top players usually will play back-to-back (like last year). However, it has been explained that the calendar is packed and team managers do have to reshuffle their players around to give them the necessary exposure. Team Indonesia choose Indonesia and Singapore Opens as the events for their top players. Team China chooses Malaysia and Chinese Taipei Opens. Nothing wrong about that and I agree that it shouldn't diminish the glamor of the event itself.
Don't just look at China/Indonesia/Malaysia. I think the European teams will find Singapore attractive compared to tournaments on the Asian circuit. Not all the other Asian tournaments may get the same strong European particpation that SO gets - if you recall the 6-star China open in 2005, most of Europe gave it a miss. (1) Air-con venue (2) Neutral umpiring/linesman because we don't have anyone capable of winning. (not saying that others are not neutral... cough cough) (3) Crowd support also well balanced. eg: last year Chen Hong v Taufik, both players had huge support.
haha.. means lin dan will be playing in the m'sia open...aikss... if got enough money must go to s'wak to see him in real person...hahahahhaha
There is a re-draw for the WD event. QUARTER 1 Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen (1) Jo Novita/Greysia Polii (5/8) -- Luck is on Jo Novita/Greysia Polii. They avoid the Singaporean pair of Jiang Yanmei/Li Yujia and from the draw, the should have no problem reaching the quarter-final, with a potential meeting with Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen. I would be glad if they could reach yet another quarter-final in Singapore next week. Yang/Zhang to possibly win another tournament. QUARTER 2 Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing (3/4) Mette Schjoldager/Britta Andersen (5/8) -- Meanwhile, Chien Yu-Chin/Cheng Wen-Hsing will now face Jiang/Li in the first round. Definitely the match of the round. The winner of the first-round match will meet either an England pair (Nicholas/Munt) or Japanese pair (Matsuda/Akao). The other seeded Danish pair should have no problem reaching the quarter-final. Chien/Chen to qualify from this quarter. QUARTER 3 Wei Yili/Zhang Yawen (5/8) Wong Pei-Tty/Chin Ee Hui (3/4) -- Wei/Zhang should reach the quarter-final easily, facing possibly Wong/Chin. However, Wong/Chin would probably find it tough to beat Hwang Yu Mi/Kim Min Jung in the second round. Wei/Zhang to qualify from this quarter. QUARTER 4 Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda (5/8) Gail Emms/Donna Kellogg (2) -- Seedings do not matter here since the unseeded Zhang Dan/Zhao Tingting will beat the Jap pair to reach the quarter-final. The England pair also faces little problem reaching the quarter-final, however, they will probably lose to Zhang/Zhao. The Chinese pair to qualify from this quarter. PREDICTION: 3 Chinese pairs will mean no chance for the other pairs.
The timetabling of this years' Matches has improved over last year. Previously, the organisers had to rush through as many matches as possible by fixing matches in all 5 courts simultaneously up to the QF stage. From the current schedule, it appears that they will only use 3 courts simultaneously (if necessary to 'overflow' longer running games into a 4th or 5th court). I guess the 21 point scoring system, with it's promise of shorter games, have allowed the organisers to do this. Anyone going down today to see qualifiers, pls report
Jo / Novita Jo / Novita is a good pair. They can play 3 sets against Zhang Dan / Zhao Tingting in Indonesia Open. I think they will top ten in next year. They only loss to China pair. Remember...they can win PO easily.
The timetable is ok except for one thing. The first and second rounds of the WS are too close to each other. If you look at Thu's schedule, the winners of the first round only have 3 hours to get ready for the second round. If it were me, I would use all courts available and finish the first round on Wednesday like all the other events. Furthermore, the 21-point system have shortened most matches but not for WS. According to Zhang and Xie, the matches have even lenghtened.
Good point. Use all availabe courts to finish the round to be fair to all. Quite possible for some good women singles players as they were playing 11 points before as opposed to 21 now! Faster to finish off the really weak players with 11 points, particularlly if the strong player wins all the points without loss of service.
I prefer 3 courts simultaneously rather than 5 courts simultaneously from a fan's point of view. It is far more spectator friendly. From a player's point of view, there may been more people watching/supporting his/her match which may be nice for them as well. Also, on paper, it may seem tight, but last year, I would say that it was also bad for players because of time overruns due to long matches. ' Also, the unpredictability of when the player's matches were going to start meant that they may be waiting anxiously for 1+ hour in the waiting area or whatever rather than relaxing in their hotel. I recall in 2005 coming for a match that was scheduled at 12.30 pm in the preliminary rounds. Because of time overruns of other matches, the match started around 1.15 pm. By the evening, the time overrun had multiplied into something like 1.5 hours... With this system, the matches are likely to end on time, not only because of 21-points but because organisers have the option to open up a 4th and 5th court to cope with over-long matches (i assume they will still have 5 courts set up), so that the next match can start on time. So compared to 2005, players may still have a better 'experience' this year even though the timings seem tighter. Another theory - only 3 courts this year because not enuf people volunteered to be line judges - check with Netasia
I thought that would have been apparent : Malaysian hotels are cheaper and the sites are better. Also, imagine cooling off in Kuching at the Damai beach rather than the congested East Coast or Changi Beaches. Realistically, for a night in a Singapore hotel you can get 2 nights in a Malaysian one, and if you are lucky, you can probably include a real massage !!!
