Last Year (2011) Winners MS: Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Den) WS: Li Xuerui (Chn) MD: Bodin Issara & Maneepong JongJit (Tha) WD: Mizuki Fujii & Reika Kakiiwa (Jpn) XDL Chan Peng Soon & Goh Liu Ying (MAS)
For MS, Vittinghus is the top seed, but I think he will be strongly challenged by Marc Zwiebler. I don't think any of Malaysia's MS entered for this tournament are title contender. For WS, this is Juliane Schenk's title (even though this is her 3rd tournament in a row). I am just curious how will Olga Konon perform here.
Olga on paper has a realistic chance of getting to the quarter finals if she is 90+% fit, however, it is difficult to judge as there is no recent tournaments to base her form on. Carolina Marin is a big threat to Schenk they should meet in the finals. Interesting to note that China have sent no players to this tournament. Usually they send their 2nd team to this tournament, but not this year. Maybe they cannot afford to send players there cause of the World Junior Championships. Predictions for this tournament: MS: HK Vittinghus, think he'll edge this, and retain his title. WS: Carolina Marin, think the amount of tournaments will catch up on her, plus Carolina has beaten her before. MD: Boe/Mogensen to claim the title in Germany WD:Think the top seeds here have a good chance to win, if they can negotiate the tricky second round encounter vs Schenk/Jonathans XD: wide open, Polish pair missed last weeeks french open, whereas Adcock/Bankier made the semi finals, there are a few other pairs that can cause a surprise in the draw as well
Today's matches will consist of qualification and MS R/64 round, wise arrangement as MS players will not play twice in same day.
MD: Boe /Mogensen has withdrew. The title now may go to German pair of Ingo/Schoettler. Potential threat from England Chris/Ellis and Denmark Bonde/Mads. I am surprised that MAS players did not pair up to play MD.
WD: I hope the Singapore ladies can win here too. There seems no notable strong pairs here, except till they meet the likely finalist in MAS Vivian/Woon.
XD: I will go with the top seeded Polish. Threat should come from Denmark Anders/Julie and local hope German Fuchs/Birgit.
hmm, lack of some quslity here... i always believe that GPG is a very good tournament for the 2nd string players to gain some good points, but it seems to be that BAM never thought so... seriously i would arrange daren liew, CWF and other MDs pair to be in this tournament. seriously this type of tournament is best to grab points, particularly when we can expect other top players not playing in this tournament after the denmark and french open.
i agree with ibelieveindevil. This is a proper tournament to gain experience, points, confidence and prize too especially due to many top players did not enroll to this tournament.
I'm sorry for Schwenger/Heinz in the first round. Surley, Boe/Mogensen would destroy them, but Schwenger/Heinz are the German future of MD and I would like to see how they fight against a World-TopPair. I'm also looking forward to Olga Konon who is back on court. If Schenk is only a little bit tired from the last tournaments, it could be a good fight when they meet in the QF.
Well, Schwenger/Heinz will next meet the no.2 Danish pair in R-16. If they win, they should meet the Indo pair of Aprida/Dasuki. These opponents are no pushover, and as what you said they are German future MD, it will be excellent results if the German wins both matches.
Indeed - that would be excellent. But I don't think that they will win... They are 21 and 20 years old, for the German badminton it's quite young - for international competition it's not THAT young. They have much to learn and improve but I hope that they maybe can needle the no.2 danes a bit
Adcock/Bankier have withdrawn as Bankier has no quit the Gb program and as a result her partnership is now dissolved. They will be withdrawing from China/HK next month as well.
oh no...wonder if its a good decision??? anyway...i look forward to seeing olga konon...she is really talented..perhaps hindered by injury...and pretty too...and marin..
Bankier wanted to relocate back to Scotland, so apparently that's the partnership finished, Adcock will concentrate on MD up till Christmas, Bankier will be trialed with Scottish players in IC events.