SS FINALS 2012 – Draw separates most Chinese

At 2PM in Shenzhen, the world governing body for the sport of badminton made public the draw for the BWF Superseries Finals which kick off in the southern Chinese city this Wednesday. Apart from the women’s singles, where Li Xuerui and Wang Shixian are in the same half, all other top Chinese avoid each other in the group stages.

Raphael Sachetat. Photos (live from Shenzhen): Arthur Van Der Velde for Badmintonphoto

The Chinese can consider themselves lucky, as in all previous events they participated in, each time, all Chinese who could be grouped together were! This time, Li Yongbo’s team-mates avoid each other in the round robin stages in most cases – which could sound lucky at a first glance, but which might be more difficult as the Chinese may then face each other as early as the semi-final stage.  As the world will be looking at the team strategy and particularly if some players throw matches in order to avoid their compatriots, these Finals should really be the peak of the season, in spite of Lin Dan and Peter Gade missing the show.

If there is a “group of death”, that would be Group A of the men’s doubles, with Kim/Kim of Korea, Koo/Tan, Boe/Mogensen and Cai/Fu – three of the four semi finalists of the Olympic Games. With only 2 pairs going through, this will be the group to watch. So will be group A of the women’s singles with Li Xuerui, Wang Shixian, Eriko Hirose and Sung Ji Hyun.  Wang lost her most recent encounters with both Sung and Hirose but has not lost to Li in international competition since way back in 2008 in the Asian Junior Championship final.

In the men’s singles event, last minute addition Hans Kristian Vittinghus, drawn with Kenichi Tago, Liew Daren and Chen Long, believes he has his chances.

“I think it’s an open group I’ve ended up in. Clearly Chen Long is the favourite, but I think Daren and Tago can beat each other. So I’ll of course fancy my chances, but I also know that I’ll have to be at the top of my game to make it through the group stage,” said the Dane.

Draws:

Men’s singles
Group A :
Lee Chong Wei (MAS)
Hu Yun (HKG)
Boonsak Ponsana (THA)
Du Pengyu (CHN)

Group B:
Chen Long (CHN)
Liew Daren (MAS)
Kenichi Tago (JPN)
Hans Kristian Vittinghus (DEN)

Women’s singles
Group A:
Li Xuerui (CHN)
Wang Shixian (CHN)
Eriko Hirose (JPN)
Sung Ji Hyun (KOR)

Group B:
Saina Nehwal (IND)
Juliane Schenk (GER)
Tine Baun (DEN)
Ratchanok INtanon (THA)

Men’s doubles
Group A
Kim/Kim (KOR)
Boe/Mogensen (DEN)
Koo/Tan (MAS)
Cai/Fu (CHN)

Group B:
Issara/Jongjit (THA)
Endo/Hayakawa (JPN)
Hoon/Tan (MAS)
Hong/Wei (CHN)

Women’s doubles
Group A:
Tian/Zhao (CHN)
Matsuo/Naito (JPN)
Aroonkesorn/Voravichitchaikul (THA)
Poon/Tse (HKG)

Group B:
Yu/Wang (CHN)
Pedersen/Juhl (DEN)
Matsutomo/Hakayashi (JPN)
Eom/Jang (KOR)

Mixed doubles

Group A:
Xu/Ma (CHN)
Ahmad/Natsir (INA)
Prapakamol/Thoungthonkgam (THA)
Yoo/Jang (KOR)

Group B:
Zhang/Zhao (CHN)
Fischer-Nielsen-Pedersen (DEN)
Chan/Goh (MAS)
Rijal/Susanto (INA)

All results HERE

Live broadcast HERE