CHINA MASTERS 2010 – A Drawful of Firsts

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) released the draws this week for the 2010 Li Ning China Masters Super Series.  It is a series of firsts, for while the men’s singles event will begin without first seed Lee Chong Wei, the first-round  will see defending champion Lin Dan will play a rematch of his World Championship quarter-final against Korea’s Park Sung Hwan.  Korea’s other two Lin Dan-beaters, Lee Hyun Il and Choi Ho Jin, will be in action on the very first day, in qualifying, where Lee will be playing his first Super Series match in over two years.

In fact, the first rounds of both singles disciplines will involve a whole series of Korea-China matchups, including Shon Wan Ho vs. Bao Chunlai, Hong Ji Hoon vs. Chen Jin, Bae Seung Hee vs. Wang Shixian, and Kim Moon Hi vs. Wang Xin.

In doubles, it will be the first Super Series tournament where Chinese Taipei’s Fang Chieh Min / Lee Sheng Mu will begin as first seeds and they will start with a tricky test against China’s Chen Zhiben / Tao Jiaming.  Malaysia’s Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari will see his first action with new partner Ong Soon Hock.  Ong/Tazari must begin against the formidable Guo/Xu while four of the other five Malaysian pairs are up against Korean opponents, including the long dormant Hwang Ji Man / Han Sang Hoon.

Women’s and mixed doubles will see even more debuts as both China and Korea have begun shaking up their partnerships.  Wang Xiaoli, Yu Yang, Ma Jin, and Ha Jung Eun will all be starting with two new partners each, at least on the Super Series stage.  Wang Xiaoli starts with Yu Yang in Changzhou against Korea’s Sun In Jang, who has done very little internationally since she lost to Wang and Ma Jin in 3 junior finals four years ago.

Amazingly, China will start their first home Super Series of the year with only one top seed, Wang Yihan, but everyone knows they stand an excellent chance of equalling not only their World Championship take of all five titles, but also of their claim to almost every finals spot.  There will almost certainly be a visiting entry in the men’s doubles final, however, as three-time World Champions Cai/Fu and second seeds Guo/Xu are in the same half of the draw together.

To download the complete draws, CLICK HERE

For more information on the 2010 Li Ning China Masters, visit the official website HERE