Hong Kong Open 2023

Congratulations to the winners. Indonesia win it big this time with 2 titles. This is only a S500 event which is much smaller than the previous China Open S1000. Also many top 10 players did not participate because they are preparing for the coming Asian Games.

Summary below.

xd. China pair won it by beating the local Hong Kong pair. The Hong Kong pair beat the red hot french pair who were in the finals last week in China. They were the only unknown faces.

wd. Malaysia Pearly and Thinaah did well to upset the Thai pair to enter final. Unfortunately the blew up their chances of winning the final where they won g1 easily and almost won g2. Indonesia Apriani and Siti did well with their experience and firepower to claw back and win the match. 

ws. Tunjung did well to dispose Marin. Ratchanok gave a wo to GJW. Goh Jin Wei did well to beat the Chinese player. Yamaguchi stopped Tunjung this time and GJW lost to Zhang Yi Man in the semis. This final was won by Yamaguchi again. I wonder if Yama can catch up with the red hot ASY in the Olympics. She will need to double her effort.

md. Again, the top seed Alfian lost to Tpe pair in the 2nd round. Kim and Anders did well to enter final. Seems to be in good form. They also beat Ahsan and Setiawan in semis. Leo and Daniel did well to beat the Tpe pair in semis. In the final, the Danish pair continued with their great form to win it. More fire power.

ms. Jojo did well to beat local boy LCY in 2 games. He also beat Ng TY from Malaysia in 3 games. Ironic that Jojo have problem playing Viktor and LZJ and not the rest. Nishimoto did well to beat Ginting in 2 games. Ginting is still struggling from his mom passing recently. Jojo did well to beat Nishimoto in the final. 3 hard fought games. In the earlier rounds. Lee Chia Hao from Tpe did well to upset Viktor and also LZJ but lost to Jojo. Out of steam.

It seems that the Victor flooring mat is a little slippery. There is already a history. Complaints coming from Viktor himself and BWZ from USA. See picture below. The victor shuttles seems faster than the Yonex ones as well. You notice most players prefer to smash with fast shuttles. Victor will have to fix this.

Share it and see you in Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.

China Open 2023

Congratulations to the winners of this S1000 series. Especially to Seo and Chae and also ASY. They repeated the win and is now considered a legend in their category. Not easy to maintain the form. The final is a little anti climax because it is lop sided and kind of expected. The prize money is the biggest so far. See the image below. Vitid was a no show in this tournament. The dynamics could have changed. All top 15 ranking in ms got a chance to win any tournament. Luck of the draw can be a factor.

Summaries

xd. Zheng and Huang were the top seed but they lost to the World Champion Korean pair in semis.

Tan and Lai from Malaysia did very well to beat the top Thai pair in Qtr final but lost narrowly to the Koreans. 21 19 in the 1st set.

Toh and Chen from Malaysia also did well to enter semis buy lost to the surprising pair from France. Literally out of nowhere to enter final and lost to the Koreans WC. This Korean xd pair can be considered legends.

wd. wr no 1 Chen and Jia did well again to maintain their status as the best wd player.

ws. Tty did well to beat Marin in Qtr final 21 19 3rd game. Funny that she doesn't believe in Video analytics. No wonder she did not win the big events like wc and og. She lost to the solid An Se Young in semis.

Yamaguchi did well to beat the home girl CYF but she was not match for the eventual winner ASY. Looks like ASY is a very strong favourite to win the Olympic Gold. In terms of fitness and stability, no one can match her at the moment.

md. Again, Alfian and Ardianto is the victim of the danish MD pair in the 1st round this time. They have been struggling about 3 tournaments back. However, the danish pair lost to Hoki and Kobayashi in the qtr final. Lee and Wang the OG champ lost narrowly to the WC pair.  It was a very exciting encounter. Any pair could have won it. Deuce.

Liang and Wang did well to beat the Japanese top pair in a close rubber game in semis.

Aaron and Soh did well to beat compatriot Teo and Ong in the qtr final. They also did well to beat the WC Kang and Seo. I guess the prize money is good enough even if they don't win any tournament.

In the final, it was a white wash by the chinese md.

ms.  Loh Kean Yew did well to get his revenge on Popov and Antonsen this time but lost to Viktor in the qtr finals. In game 2 lky got the chance to make a comeback at 17 17 but gave it away by making some silly mistakes. Out of gas perhaps after the 1st tough narrow set. Antonsen earlier had a tough match vs Sen from India.

NTY from Malaysia did well to beat Pranoy, but eventually lost to Shesar from Indonesia. This kid can't last after having a tough match. Jojo did well to beat Shesar but he was no match for Viktor in Semis.

SYQ did well to beat Gemke and Naraoka in a thrilling 3 setter in the Qtr final. 22 20. Lu GZ did well to beat the tired SYQ in semis and also LSF in the earlier round. Earlier LZJ had a tough one vs Naraoka. If he won game 1, he could have won the match. He punctured on the 3rd game.

In the final, it was Viktor's day. A walk in the park. Enjoy the images below and share my link. Thanks for coming.

World Championship 2023

Congratulations to all the winners. Korean won it big time.

Notables.

xd

Zheng and Huang the defending champion did well to enter final. Everyone expecting them to win again but the Korean had another plans. They managed to outwit china. Seo and Chae did very well to break china's rythm.

wd

Chen and Jia did very well to enter the final. They demolished the Indonesia Apriyani and Siti.

ws

Okuhara was a big surprise when she beat Sindhu and Ratchanok in the early rounds. She stretched ASY to 3 games. As good as final. Chen Yu Fei lost to ASY in semis.

Marin did very well to beat Yamaguchi in 2 games but lost to eventual winner ASY. I have predicted ASY to win it since she was 18 years old. She made it at such a young age. Well done.

md

The top seed INA lost again to Lee and Yang. Kang and Seo from Korea beat Taipei. Ahsan and Setiawan also lost to the Korean pair.

Malaysian MD Aaron and Soh did well to beat Lee and Yang the OG champ. But lost to the Korean in 2.

The danes Kim and Anders did well to beat 3rd seed China Liang and Wang. But lost to the eventual winner Korean. Solid performance.

ms

Antonsen was in resurgence after his injury beating LZJ. The 1st game was quite close. Vitid did well to beat Sen in 2 games. Pranoy did very well mentally to beat LKY in a tough 3 games. We are still waiting for the former world champion to win his first s750 tournament at least till now. Same as Aaron and Soh. 

Pranoy also did well to outlast top seed Viktor. Wang Tzu Wei was a surprise to beat Li Shi Feng. Vitid beat Wang in 3 games. SYQ can't match Naraoka. Antonsen also can't last against Naraoka.

In the final game Vitid was just too good to win in 3 games. Naraoka was TKOed in game 3.

Australian Open 2023

This is a s500 event and is quite respectable. It is better to view this blog on a windows PC. More stuff to see mate.😎

Congrats to Mr Poh for being the President of Oceania Badminton. I played with him and also with the son of Ong Beng Teong in early 2000 at Monash University. The games were awewome. He was kind enough to send me from Monash back to the city. We had a great chat in his black Mercedez. He also partnered Ong Beng Teong in some tournaments during his younger days in Melbourne.

https://badmintonoceania.org/loke-poh-wong-elected-as-badminton-oceania-president/?fbclid=IwAR12ffe22at-zdxjOyGApDAGjkka6QJMTtSdLAHUgfmH-sN96lw4witnaYY

Below is early 2000 of me with Mr Poh (black hair then. lol). Above is with white hair. lol. Also playing games at Monash University with the son of Ong Beng Teong. Good players. Clayton Hall. OBT then opens up a hall in KL.😎

Notes.

xd.  Indonesia Parveen lost to HongKong in early rounds. Dong from China did well to win it.

wd. Korean Kim Kong won again. Very solid wd. The also beat Fuku from Japan in semis.

ws. BeiWen Zhang the ex-sg player did very well to win this tournament. She beat Sindhu, Rachanok and Kim. Her first biggest win. S500.

md. Korean Kang and Seo did very well to upset Ardian top seed again. The also beat Lee and Wang the Olympic and recent Japan Open Champion. Malaysia Aaron flop to Taiwan 2nd pair. Hugo went into final but cannot beat the Koreans as they were in top form.

ms. Ginting the top seed was struggling early and lost to Pranoy the finalist. Watch out for the young Rajawat from India. Ng Tze Yong did well to send Jojo packing. Lee Zi Jia did well to beat NTY again to enter semis. However WHY got the upper hand over LZJ this time in 3 games. A good comeback from LZJ. Improving with his new coach. WHY did very well to upset Pranoy in the final. One of the rally was amazing. 71 shots. See below.

https://fb.watch/mgPu2acAi4/

Japan Open 2023

 In MS and MD, the Olympic Champion rules. S750 event same as SG Open.

Notables.

xd. Watanabe did well to beat the Thai pair in semis. Huang and Zheng did well to enter final. Watanabe got the upper hand this time.

wd. Msia again playing top seed china and failed again. No luck.  The chinese did well in semis to beat fukushima. Korean Kim and Kong did well to beat Nagahara and went on to beat the Chinese in the final. Korean wd is very good. Solid.

ws. Defending Champ Yamaguchi loat narrowly to Tunjung from Indonesia. CYF lost to USA. He Bing Jiao did well go to into final beating Tunjung. ASY was unstoppable beating Ratchanok and TTY before beating HBJ in the final. This is her 1st no. 1 world ranking.

md. Alfian lost to Lee and Wang in semis. Hugo beat Liu in semis. Lee and Wang did well to beat Hugo in the final.

ms. Pranoy got the most points from Viktor in this tournament. The rest were easy for Viktor to beat in 2 sets. Jojo did well to beat Vitid and Laksya Sen but no match for Viktor again.

Next is Australia Open.

2022 winners.

MS - Kenta Nishimoto (JPN)
WS - Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)
MD -Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang(CHN)
WD - JEONG NA EUN/KIM Hye JEONG (KOR)
XD - Decaphol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai(THA)

Korea Open 2023

Well done to the 1 time winners. Antosen made a good comback at last. India MD did well to beat the Top seed from indonesia.

Notables.

xd. The China Top seed Huang and Zheng lost to fellow country men no 8. Huang Dong Ping the OG champ did well to win it.
wd. Msian dbl no luck meeting the eventual winner in the 1st round. Chen Qing Chen did well to beat the korean in the final.

ws. Sindhu got Hashim as new coach but has yet to make a mark. Akane lost to TTY in semis this time. CYF lost to ASY in semis. ASY again is the winner. She will be breaking records. No. 1 soon. Perfect timing for coming OG in 2024.

md.  Goh Sze Fei won US open last week and lost to Ardian. Japan Hugo lost to Indian Shetty. India md did well to win this S500 event. They also beat Liang and Wang in Semis.

ms. LzZJgot a new coach Wong Tat Meng. Also lost narrowly to Ng Ka long. Uncharacteristic 9 mistakes in a row. Kodai did well to beat LCY but lost to LKY in Semis. NTY also lost to LKY in 2 narrow sets. Antonsen did well to beat SYQ in semis 2 sets narrowly. Antonsen won it. But mainly from LKY mistakes. LKY could have won it if mistakes minimized.

Indonesia Open 2023

Congratulations to all the winners. This time, Yonex wins them all. Below are the noteable mentions.

xd. Zheng and Huang won all their matches in 2 games. Amazing. Similar to ASY a week ago. Thai xd pair upset by china Dong.

wd. The Korean pair did well to beat the aging Japanese pair. They also upset the top seed chinese pair in semis. Fuku upset Apriani in Qtr final.

ws.  Yamaguchi was upset by Ratchanok in Qtr surprisingly. Carolina did the same to TTY. Chen YF did well to beat the red hot ASY denying her a hattrick. CYF did well to finish off Marin in 2 games. Marin was leading 6 points in g2 before losing. Aging or tired?

md. Alfian top seed dissappointed again losing to the champion indian pair in qtr finals. Liang was upset by Rambitan. 

Rambitan made a mistake by trying to finish off Aaron in 2 games. They did not and tires themselves in the 3rd game. Wrong strategy. Too young or eager to win perhaps.

Aaron was on form until they reached the final and lost to the Indian pair. Too tired or they tried something new to lose the game. Still waiting for the to win an at least s750 tournament like lky. Aaron smash is better now but must maintain his weights. Else, it will go down the drain again.

ms. Lzj lost miserably to Sen. He was in no mood to play at all. He will take a small break. Lky did well against local boy Chico. Again, he lost to LSF next round. Not many players can last now days.

Naraoka managed to beat syq in 3 games. lsf was no match for ginting. Crowd factor perhaps. Hats off to Viktor again to hold his fort to beat homeboy Ginting. I notice ginting seems to have issues playing Viktor. Even home crowd can't help Ginting. Viktor is now 11 to 4 vs Ginting for Head to Head stats.