Category : BWF Superseries Premier Venue : Hamdan Sports Complex, Dubai-UAE Total Prize-Money : US$1,000,000 Tournament Website : http://bwfworldsuperseries.com/destination-dubai/ Tournament Prospectus : http://system.bwfbadminton.com/uplo...erseries Finals 2016 - Players Prospectus.pdf Knock-Out Stage Draw : 16th December 2016 (after last match completed) Dubai time : http://www.worldtimezone.com/time/wtzresult.php?CiID=6765&forma=Find Time Live Streaming : - http://videostream.dn.ua/videopage/videoPage.php?g=c2J2b2JoK2F0Y3ZsbmhZ&c=en&i=eWlhaXVidGd1bA№f№f - DAY-3 ORDER OF PLAY (09.00am) => https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/...94939C-80B9-42B5-9BCB-97B1F842B8F1&d=20161216 Some players and pairs destiny will be determined today to continue their run into knock-out stage, more interesting clashes are on the way to seal semifinal ticket. Men's singles group A is going into the script, Jan O Jorgensen and Tian Houwei won their group match twice and top-ranked Jorgensen will be the favourite to manage top position and Tian as runner-up, no chance for Hu Yun and Marc Zwiebler to progress. It's out of prediction that Son Wan Ho tops group B to dump Rio Olympic medalists, he made great comeback after trailed behind at early stages of deciding game against Danish star Viktor Axelsen. A do or die situation for both Lee Chong Wei and Axelsen to determine who will accompany Son in last four as Angus Ng Ka Long suffered losing two times. Double World Champion Carolina Marin tumbled once again, lost three games to Japanese prodigy Akane Yamaguchi in marathon 86 minutes match. Sun Yu produced proactive and effective display to down P.V. Sindhu yesterday and will boost her confidence to overcome Yamaguchi today. Group B offers complicated scenario to know the final outcome of group standing. A reversal situation happens for group A, Tai Tzu Ying and Sung Ji Hyun will chase top position as both of them had pocketed winning twice against Ratchanok Intanon and He Bingjiao. Conrad/Kolding have guaranteed semifinal berth, thanks to their excellent performances in two previous days to defeat more fancied opponents, Kamura/Sonoda and Gideon/Sukamuljo. Both Japanese and Indonesians will cross sword this afternoon to decide their journey here, an intriguing tie that may down to the wire. It's over for Pratama/Suwardi as they failed in two successive tie. With Boe/Mogensen out of competition, Goh/Tan and Chai/Hong advance into knock out round after they knocked out Chinese substitute qualifiers, Li/Liu. Matsutomo/Takahashi demonstrated their prowess yesterday to outclass defending champion Luo twin sisters, 21-7 / 21-11. It looks unstoppable for the Olympic Champion to score perfect winning in group A, Chang/Lee will be their last rival in group match. The Korean pair also secured last four berth as they beat Luos and Fukuman/Yonao. Chinese rising stars Chen/Jia book semifinal spot in first ever Dubai appearance after stunned Rio silver and bronze medalists in two consecutive days. Juhl/Pedersen and Jung/Shin will vie one remaining place in knock-out phase. The Olympic Champion Ahmad/Natsir decided to retire yesterday due to Natsir knee injury, it means all of their matches will not be counted. The terrific form of current All England winner Jordan/Susanto bring them on top and they will do play-off against Fischer/Pedersen to chase first position of group A. Chen Qingchen shows her capability to handle double duties as she's unbeatable so far in mixed doubles with Zheng Siwei. Their seniors Lu/Huang have last year champion The Adcocks as last stumbling block to cruise into next round. LIVE TV COVERAGE (01.00pm, Court 1) : 1) Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda (JPN) v Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) 2) Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) v Sung Ji Hyun (KOR) 3) Viktor Axelsen (DEN) v Lee Chong Wei (MAS) 4) Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong (MAS) v Chai Biao/Hong Wei (CHN) 5) Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (DEN) v Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto (INA) 6) Carolina Marin (ESP) v Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND)
It is 50% chance they will play tomorrow also, if Jorgy wins easy then I think he lost on purpose today.
Thanks Cheung After losing five times, Tian HW scored second winning over Jorgensen and made the Chinese tops Group A. Jorgensen played quite casual in this play-off, they may meet again in semifinal.
After defeated more illustrious rivals previously, Son Wan Ho falters to Ng Ka Long, the Korean looked fatigue after took first set, 26-24 then his performance dropped drastically and HKG youngster grabbed next two games with 21-8 and 21-11.
Apparently, Intanon is unwell, retired in G2 at 11-10 after dropping G1, 19-21. Hope she comes back stronger soon, such a rare talent, it'll be a great pity if she just fades away like that. He Bjingjiao is not too good either, off form at the wrong time, under par throughout the tournament.
Son Wan Ho obviously has no incentive to win as he's sure to top the group, probably wants to conserve energy for tomorrow. Viktor Axelsen - Lee CW will decide who gets the second semifinal slot from their group. Similarly, JOJ, assured of top place finish,is unmotivated to win against Tian Houwei but I'm sure he'll prefer to play Tian again rather than Lee CW or Viktor next round. Naturally, every player or pair will strategise to maximise their chances of winning the crown, playing the long game if necessary. Still the best-laid plan can or often go awry, or unforeseen circumstances arise to change or even upset everything. The sad part is some players/pairs come here unprepared, esp the unexpected last-minute qualifiers, or not in good shape after a long year of competition, so much so the grand finale turns out to be somewhat an anti-climax for the both the players and us fans.
For those matches whose outcome matters little, academic, I suppose they are playing for pride and prize money, and maybe with other ideas.
If Son Wan Ho is guaranteed to top the group, he should have just kept it to 2 sets and rallied and refrained from power smashing. I don't know why Son Wan Ho bothered to win the first set, even extending the first set to tie breaker to waste more of his energy. And he did do a few power smashes (but less than the usual).
I think he tried to win at first but without trying too hard, what for, and when he lost G1 narrowly, he sort of gave up , preferring instead to save energy for tomorrow. It's a case of, if he can win it, why not give it a try, if not, it's fine, no need to push himself.
The mens doubles (JPN vs. INA) is quite interesting already. The Japanese are moving so quickly it's amazing.
So far, four retirements/withdrawals - Bo/Mo, Natsir/Tantowi, Intanon Ratchanok, Hu Yun - by the third day of competition, and a couple of players seemingly off-form, Marc Zwiebler, He Bingjiao, Lee CW (?). This doesn't bode well for the supposedly culminating Superseries Finals, the blue-riband event of the year sans WC/OG.
I expect Lee CW - Viktor Axelsen and Marin - Sindhu to fight tooth and nail for survival, we're in for a treat.
Indeed, the JPN MD are playing a high-powered game in their bid to qualify as the second finisher in the group.
