SCG THAILAND OPEN PREVIEW – Rising Stars on Display in Bangkok

The 2009 SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold tournament is about to kick off in Bangkok with new names to be added on the honour roll as most of last year’s winners are not competing. Local stars will be out to shine.

By Gerald Jew, Badzine Correspondent live in Bangkok. Photos: BadmintonPhoto.com (archives)

One thing is certain at this year’s SCG Thailand Open in Bangkok and that is that it will be a very different victors’ gallery from the 2008 tournament. Only one of last year’s winners will be on hand to defend their titles at this year’s US$120,000 Grand Prix Gold event. Unlike last year when the Chinese team sent a strong contingent to do some pre-Beijing muscle-flexing in Bangkok and swept to victory in all five disciplines, only two women’s doubles pairs will venture forth from China to wield their luck at this year’s tournament. The event will not be without star power though, as Hong Kong’s world #1 ranked women’s singles star Zhou Mi will be on hand, as will local crowd favourite “Superman” Boonsak Ponsana.

Top seeded Zhou Mi will be looking for a win at the Thailand Open to add to her impressive resume and cement her meteoric rise to the world #1 ranking in women’s singles. Fellow Hong Kong shuttler and world #9 Wang Chen (pictured top) arrives in Bangkok as the number two seed. Boonsak Ponsana’s younger sister Salakjit Ponsana is seeded third. Kaori Imabeppu of Japan, Anu Niemenen of Finland and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand round out the top six women’s seeds.

Only the women’s singles and men’s doubles will have qualifying draws at this year’s Open and a whopping 25 hopefuls – almost all Thais but with a handful of Chinese and Korean veterans – will struggle through the women’s qualifying draw in an attempt to become one of 4 players to fill out the main draw, also of 32. However, three Thai teenagers are already in the main draw with 14-year-old Ratchanok Intanon, who will face Zhou Mi in the first round while Porntip Buranaprasertsuk is likely to meet Wang Chen in the quarter-finals.

Boonsak Ponsana (pictured) will be looking to regain the Thailand Open trophy he last won in 2004. Although his last BWF tournament win was the 2007 Aviva Singapore Open, Boonsak has played well in recent months. At last month’s Singapore Open he showed the speed and defense that has become his trademark before losing to Lin Dan in the finals of a three-game match. Boonsak is seeded third this year behind top seed Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia and second seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam. Wong, world #12 and Malaysia’s second-highest ranked player behind world #1 Lee Chong Wei, will be looking for his first win since the Italian International in December of last year. Nguyen comes into the tourney also looking for his first win since last December’s Vietnam Grand Prix. Hong Kong’s Ng Wei, Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, Hu Yun of Hong Kong, Shon Wan Ho of Korea and Malaysia’s Pei Wee Chung complete the men’s seeds.

Malaysian Olympians and the world’s #13 ranked doubles pair of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah are the top seeded men’s pair. The in-form pair in the draw must be Indonesia’s Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan (pictured). Now ranked 16th in the world, the pair has reached two finals this year and are keen on taking their first title together.

The 32-team men’s doubles main draw will be rounded out by a preliminary qualification draw that will be contested by 16 Thai teams. Meanwhile, there is plenty of youth and promise in the main draw already. All four of this discipline’s World Junior Champions from the last two years are present with different partners and three of these – Mak Hee Chun, Chung Eui Seok, and Shin Baek Cheol – are part of new, but seeded, pairings.

The top seeded women’s doubles team of Duanganong Aroonkesorn and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul will be looking to for their first BWF title. Hoping to deny the Thai pair their chance at home glory will be the two Chinese women’s pairs, second seeds and defending champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen and fourth seeded Gao Ling and Wei Yili. But the first test for the Thai pair may well come in the form of the return to international competition of 19-year-old Koreans Yoo Hyun Young / Jung Kyung Eun. The 2007 World Junior Championship runners-up are likely to be the top seeds’ first opponent, in the second round.

Still, this tournament may present the world’s #17 Aroonkesorn / Voravichitchaikul their best opportunity at a title since they began playing BWF events in 2005. After all, the last seed is Savitree Amitrapai / Vacharaporn Munkit of Thailand, the world’s #39 ranked women’s pair.

In the mixed doubles, the Thai teams of world #8 Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam and world #13 Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchakul (pictured) are seeded number one and two. Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying are seeded third with Hong Kong’s Wong Wai Hong and Wai Chee Koon completing the seeds. Of the 31 teams entered in the mixed doubles, seventeen of the teams are representatives of Thailand, but Korea and Malaysia have both fielded some dangerous young pairs.

This year’s Thailand Open may be lacking many of the star players from previous years as many national teams prepare for the upcoming World Championships in Hyderabad, but should provide plenty of excitement and a chance to view some of the up and coming future stars of the sport. Stay tuned with Badzine as we will be bringing you the action live each day, starting Tuesday, July 21 from Nimibutr Stadium at the National Stadium Complex.

To see the complete draws for the 2009 SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold, please CLICK HERE

Source : http://www.badzine.info