Skycity New Zealand Open Day Two Review

Skycity New Zealand Open Day Two Review

Men’s doubles

All eyes at the SKYCITY New Zealand Badminton Open were on Bodin Issara today as he returned from a near two year suspension for fighting at the 2013 Canadian Open. The Thai doubles expert is playing in his first tournament on return from the suspension after an incident that went viral around the world and shocked the badminton community.

The day started well enough as he and partner Nipitphon Puangpuapech won a thrilling match against Hee Chun Mak and Kok Siang Teo (Malaysia). That delight was short lived though as the Thai’s were beaten in the round of 16 by Huang Kaixiang and Chnzheng Si Wei (China) in straight games.

Try as they might, the combination of New Zealand’s Oliver Leydon-Davis and Korea’s Lee Jae Jin just couldn’t get into their first round match against China’s He Jiting and Yu Xiaoyu, going down in straight games 21-16, 21-15.

Leydon-Davis refused to blame the new combination on the loss.

“The combination will take a while but to be honest neither of us played well, I made a lot of errors and we weren’t quite anticipating what they were coming at us with and when we did we weren’t quick enough to adjust and credit to them, they were good but we weren’t good enough for a tournament the quality of the SKYCITY Open, we will have to bounce back next time.”

The minor shock of what was always going to be a very even men’s doubles competition was the defeat of the first and second seeds in the first round of competition. First up went the second seeded Indonesians Hendra Gunawan and Andrei Adistia, beaten in a thriller by Peoples Republic of China combination Huang Kaixiang and Zheng Si Wei and they were closely followed out of the tournament by Danny Chrisnanta and Chayut Triyachart (Singapore), beaten by Pavaranukroh Dechapol and Kedren Kittinupong (Thailand) in three close games.

With the departure of the top two seeds, former Olympic Games champion Markis Kido and Agripinna Putra (Indonesia) are a genuine threat after beating the 4thseeded Germans for a place in the last 8 against Malaysian pair and 5th seeds Shem Goh and Mas Tan.

Women’s doubles

The women’s doubles was equally even with just the one significant upset, with Leanne Choo and Setyana Mapasa (Australia) demolishing the second seeded Turks Ozge Bayrak and Neslihan Yigit 21-7, 21-10.

The Aussies will have two combinations in the quarter finals, with Jennifer Tam and Alice Wu also progressing, setting up a potential all Aussie semifinal if both can cause upsets tomorrow night.

It was otherwise largely the seeded combinations who made their way through to the quarterfinals, with a rare Kiwi presence to keep home hopes alive in Maria Masinipeni and her German partner Annika Horbach in the round of 16, although they were quickly dismissed by the top seeds in the evening session.

Mixed doubles

The heavyweight combinations are shining through in the mixed doubles with an incredible 5 of the 8 quarter finalists from Indonesia, with few reputations bigger than Markis Kido and Pia Bernadeth (Indonesia). Kido is a former Olympic Games gold medalist and his sister Pia is no mean partner, they have overcome Chinese and Japanese pairings on their way to the quarter finals where they will face compatriots Fran Kurniawan and Komala Dewi, the 7th seeds.

“We are so happy to win again today and we can now rest and get ready for tomorrow, the combination was good today but tomorrow we must play better and keep improving, we will try our best the tournament is very tough, but we can handle if we play well,” said Pia post match.

But the quarter finals are dominated by seeded combinations, with potential tournament winners lying in wait in each of the four games to be played on Fridaynight in what promises to be a spectacular evening of badminton, in particular for any ex-pat Indonesians in the Auckland region!

Kiwis Maika Phillips and Anona Pak bowed out in the round of 16, beaten in straight games by Yu Xiaoyu and Huan Xia (China).

Women’s singles

The women’s singles is dominated by Japan who provide 3 of the 8 quarter-finalists including qualifier Natsuki Nidaira who will have to be at her best in the quarter finals however to overcome 2014 Youth Olympic Champion He Bing Jiao (China).

Number 8 seed Aya Ohori (Japan) faces qualifier Li Yun (China) after she overcame Yin Fun Lim (Malaysia) in a tight round of 16 match.

Perhaps the most impressive performer though has been number 5 seed Cheung Ngan (Hong Kong), her 3 set win over Chen Yu Fei was a classic and had the crowd mesmerized with every long rally as the players went to and fro, Cheung winning 21-18 in the third but knew she had been in a battle.

“That was such a hard game, the first set I was leading all the way but I am not paitent enough and made some mistakes and let her win. The second I adjusted my rhtym but at the end I always have the problem of impatience and it appeared again – but luckily I controlled myself and won. In the third it was tough, but I used my will to win.

“It is hard to say if I can win the tournament, every opponent is so good. I must play my best and then have the chance to win, but it is not for sure.”

Cheung will face 4th seed Maria Febe Kusumastuti (Indonesia) in the quarters while Australia makes a rare appearance with Wendy Chen up against Japanese qualifier Saena Kawakami.

Men’s singles

The men’s singles tournament is shaping as a classic and is simply too hard to pick, with strong cases to be made for all of the quarter finalists, not least of which is top seed Hsu Jen Hao (Chinese Taipei) who once again showed his tremendous stamina and courage in defeating 9th seed Chong Wei Feng (Malaysia) in three tremendous games, with the doctors at one point called to attend to a cut on his right shin.

“I was fine, I didn’t need the doctors but the umpire insisted as there was a little bleeding, which is the rule,” said a relieved Hao. “But that had a negative effect on my game and was bad for me and I dropped that game. Even when I started I was tired and the second set I lost my rhythm but I picked up some speed in the final game. I enjoy it here, the weather is cooler than Asia and I can give more effort in my matches.”

Hao will play 5th seed Angus Ng (Hong Kong) for a place in Saturday’s semifinals.

Lee Hyun Il (Korea) is also looking strong, the former world number one and twice semifinalist at the Olympics won the Barfoot & Thompson Match of the Day over number 11 seed Anand Pawar (India) in straight games and faces Huang Yuxiang (China) who overcame the first round giant killer Lin Gui Pu in three thrilling games.

Yet another slug fest saw Qiao Bin (China) outlast Zulfadli Zulkiffli (Malaysia) 21-7, 24-26, 21-14 with some great rallies that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Qiao’s prize is a quarterfinal matchup with Mohamed Abdul Latif (Malaysia) who defeated 2nd seed Vincent Wong (Hong Kong) in another thrilling three game match, taking the third 22-20.

The remaining quarter final match up sees Boonsak Ponsana (Thailand) play Huat Goh (Malaysia).

Quarterfinals start at 5pm and are all played tomorrow night (Friday) at the North Shore Events Centre.

ENDS

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