Tan to get 3 new partners; Lin returns to Superseries

Malaysian doubles ace Tan Boon Heong is headed to the next three Superseries events with three different partners, while World Champion Lin Dan plans to end a Superseries hiatus of over 2 years.

Tan Boon Heong partnered Ow Yao Han in the last two Superseries tournaments, after debuting at the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold but in Ow’s absence at the Thomas Cup, he played one match with Tan Wee Kiong but his remaining matches saw him reunited with Hoon Thien How in the partnership that won the 2004 World Junior Championship title.  Hoon and Tan have been playing together in international tournaments since 2003 but since the autumn of 2006, when Tan began his partnership with Koo Kien Keat, they have only played 6 international matches together, all in team events, including upsets of Jung Jae Sung / Lee Yong Dae at the 2011 Sudirman Cup and World Champions Ahsan/Setiawan yesterday.

Before playing with Hoon again at the Australian Open, though, Tan will have a tryout with Goh V Shem at the Japan Open and then Tan Wee Kiong at the Indonesia Open.  Meanwhile, all three players, in addition to Lim Khim Wah and Ow Yao Han, will combine to form two more partnerships from among the six men in each Superseries event next month.  Of the combinations, will be other brand new pairings, including Hoon/Ow and Goh with Tan Wee Kiong.

Lin Dan to play 2 out of 3

Also returning to Superseries action will be Lin Dan, who has not played such an event since winning the 2012 All England.  After playing only the Asian and World Championships in 2013 and this year, just the China Masters, Asian Championships, and Thomas Cup, superstar Lin Dan will play both the Japan and Australian Opens.  He will skip the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier even though his world ranking of 58th would have been enough to keep him off the reserve list.  World #1 Lee Chong Wei will not be repeating the appearance he made in Sydney last year.  Both Lee and world #2 Chen Long will play the first two Superseries tournaments but not the third, where Jan O. Jorgensen will be the top seed.

In women’s singles, Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan will skip the Australian while Wang Shixian will skip the Japan Open and all three will be at the Indonesia Superseries Premier.  China’s top mixed and women’s doubles pairs will similarly be splitting duties in June.  Korea, meanwhile, will be keeping Eom Hye Won at home and giving Yoo Yeon Seong a break from mixed as Jang Ye Na will be back with Shin Baek Cheol and Kim Ki Jung and Lee Yong Dae are both entered with their regular mixed partners Kim So Young and Shin Seung Chan respectively.

Click the following links to download the entry lists for the Japan, Indonesia, and Australian Opens