Results are in. http://www.u-netsurf.ne.jp/nichiba/2005/yoj/exd.htm Xie/Zhang defeated Zheng/Huang Mogensen/Olsen defeated Danish champions Lamp/Harder gave more reason for Danes to cheer Other than that, my predictions were right. Lee/Lee could not repeat their Korean Open feat. I don't know why they insist on staging the XD first if two rounds are to be held for another event. They should hold the WS event first. Yesterday, they should have held the MS first to give the players more time before having to play again.
http://www.u-netsurf.ne.jp/nichiba/2005/yoj/ews.htm Lu Lan defeated Mia in 3 close games Yonekura defeated Zhou Mi in straight games Rasmussen beat Seo Jiang Yanjiao defeated Salakjit Tracey Hallam defeated Kaori Mori This event is more open than I thought.
MD Results http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=231436 Gunawan/Bach beat Boe/Mogensen convincingly 15-6 15-13 (it's at least the third time) Kidho/Setiawan beat teammates Eng/Flandy 11-15 15-10 17-16 !!! Candra/Sigit beat Lee/Jung 15-11 13-15 15-7 Robertson/Blair retired... (conceding a W.O. to Sang/Zheng) Nothing notable elsewhere as Eriksen/Lundgaard, Fu/Cai, Paaske/Rasmussen, Alven/Luluk all advanced without trouble.
http://www.u-netsurf.ne.jp/nichiba/2005/yoj/ewd.htm Japanese pairs on fire. Maeda/Suetsuna defeated Saralee/Sathinee (Thais have match point in 2nd set). Ogura/Shiota defeated Hallam/Munt, also in rubber game. The Japanese meet each other tomorrow so we are guaranteed one Japanese pair in the SFinals. Yang/Zhang, Olsen/Schjoldager, Gao/Huang, Lee/Lee all went through with ease. Koreans Hwang/Jun defeated the Hong Kong pair in 3 sets. Wei/Zhao had to win the 2nd set 17-16 to defeat Novita/Polii
http://www.u-netsurf.ne.jp/nichiba/2005/yoj/ems.htm Lin, Bao, Lee CW and Peter Gade breezed through. All other Malaysians bite the dust. It looks like Lee CW is the sole Malaysian flag-bearer for the tournament (assuming Wong MC loses to Zhang Ning). After losing the first set 17-14, Hafiz retired against Kenneth at what looks like 8-8 in the second set. Hopefully, it's nothing too serious. Taufik beat Kuan 9 and 11, not too bad for Kuan. Chen Yu beat Roslin 15-9, 17-14. And Chen Hong defeated Wong CH 15-7, 15-12.
I mentioned Zhou's decline when the draw came out but later when someone said the English players were getting bad draws, I pointed to her's as an example where top players get no special treatment. It was a horrendous draw - facting 3 players previously in the top 10. I did not expect Mia to lose although it was just a point difference, but Jiang beating Salakit was a very high possibility. y
http://www.u-netsurf.ne.jp/nichiba/2005/yoj/ews.htm The Chinese dominates. There will be 5 of them in the WS Qfinals. Zhang (11-8, 13-11 - not a bad score for Wong MC) and Xie (11-0, 13-12) unsurpringly advanced. Lu Lan thrashed Xing Aiying 4 & 0. Jiang Yanjiao thrashed Yao Jie 4 & 3 Zhu Lin bt Xu Huaiwen 5 & 11 Arrival of the new brigade? Never mind if Zhou Mi has an off day. Others will resume her duties. Other than the Chinese, Wang Chen bt Elizabeth Cann Yonekura by Tine Rasmussen Pi Hongyan took 3 sets to beat Hirose (she is the sole non-Asian representative)
The QF line-up is now completed In MS two matches will be between Chinese players Lin/Bao, ChenY/ChenH The only missing seeds: Wong CH. (Xia was already down to No.10) The WS brought out the 3 young Chinese, Zhu Lin, LuLan. Jiang to the fore. The old war horses folded Xu (33 yrs) and Yao (30 - she was R-U in XD in 1994 when Wang Chen won the WS). I hope the Chinese play these youngsters more to get them used to the opposition and the competition. MD The usual line-up except EngHina/Limpele exit by Setiawan/Khido - the latter in the WJC only two years ago. WD Again no surprises: exit for the Malaysians (6) and English (8) who had never been in the same league as the 4 Chinese pairs and the Korean Lees. The Thai No.4 seed also lost to a Japanese pair. GaoL/HuangS' win over ZhangD/ZhangYw (6,6) suggests the gap in level although the Zhangs may be in the top 5. They won't get to the WC even if they are in the top 8 because only 3 pairs are allowed doubles. XD After the exit of Robertson/Emms, the R-up in AE also fell to compatriots Morgensen/Olsen. Blair/Munt (8) lost, but they are unknowns. The surprise was the LIyujia/Saputra did not capitalise on it leaving the old Danish pair of Lamp/Harder to get through from the qualifiers. Xie/ZhangYw have a chance to earn their spurs against veterans GaoL/ZhangJ. LYB has to do something to avoid so many Chinese players/pairs knocking out their kinsmen. Y
No, you are wrong there : there is no difference between singles and doubles qualification process for the world champs. If China has four WD pairs in the top 8, all four pairs will qualify for the world champs. (http://www.worldbadminton.net/Portal/documents/wldchmps_elig.PDF) Therefore Zhang/Zhang are very likely to qualify for the world champs!
If that is the rule then they'll make it.They were No.4 up to AE but lost points by missing the German, AE and Swiss Opens. I described them in the Siam Open as seeking points to keep in the top 8 for the WC but thought better (and wrong) of it in writing the comment above. They and the Lees are only other certain pairs apart from the 3 Chinese 'veterans'. Santinee/Saralee are next but brittle; the others are erratic. The Japanese are trying desparately and a pair might slip in, so might a 2nd Korean pair though none is in sight. Y
