SUPER SERIES FINALS 2010 – The 39 Stars?

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) will be welcoming all but one of the qualifiers for the season-ending Super Series Finals.  Only the injured Saina Nehwal will be missing from the action in Taipei.

In its final qualifying list, published today on its website, the BWF listed every other qualified player as having confirmed their participation in the tournament, which is to be held from January 5-8 in Taipei, crowded into the beginning of the 2011 calendar year by an autumn of major multisport events.

Of particular note in the lists are the nine Chinese entries, after China skipped the 2008 edition and sent only 2 representatives to Johor Bahru in December, 2009.  Lin Dan, Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai all finished out of the running this year so that will leave Chen Long and Du Pengyu to mount a strong challenge to take the men’s singles title – and the hefty prize money – back home across the Formosa Straits.  Nor has China played any games with its selections as simply the highest qualifiers – Wangs Shixian and Yihan respectively – will be contesting the women’s singles crown.

China’s Head Coach Li Yongbo told the Beijing Daily this week that the badminton dynasty’s change of heart was actually a result of the increasing strict punishment the BWF has been meting out for skipping tournaments.  Still, no consequences can be visited on the Asian Games gold medallist Lin or on World Champion Chen as it was their lack of Super Series ranking points that excluded them from the Taipei roster (see here for more on the Team China situation).

Doubt still lingers over the Danish contingent, however.  Although the Danes are on record as having been the earliest to confirm their Finals entries, Peter Gade has been struggling with injuries of late and Thomas Laybourn and Jan Jorgensen have both been forced to withdraw from next week’s Copenhagen Masters, casting a shadow on their prospects for an early journey east in January.

Shown below are the confirmed participants for the 2010 Super Series Finals, as they appear on the BWF website at press time:

Men’s Singles

1  Lee Chong Wei (MAS)
2  Chen Long (CHN)
3  Boonsak Ponsana (THA)
4  Peter Gade (DEN)
5  Taufik Hidayat (INA)
6  Nguyen Tien Minh (VIE)
7  Du Pengyu (CHN)
8  Jan Jorgensen (DEN)

Women’s Singles

1 Wang Yihan (CHN)
2 Wang Shixian (CHN)
3 Wang Xin (CHN)
4 Jiang Yanjiao (CHN)
5 Bae Youn Joo (KOR)
6 Tine Baun (DEN)
7 Saina Nehwal (IND)
8 Yao Jie (NED)
9 Yip Pui Yin (HKG)
10 Salakjit Ponsana (THA)
11 Petya Nedelcheva (BUL)

Men’s Doubles

1 Ko Sung Hyun / Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR)
2 Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen (DEN)
3 Jung Jae Sung / Lee Yong Dae (KOR)
4 Koo Kien Keat / Tan Boon Heong (MAS)
5 Fang Chieh Min / Lee Sheng Mu (TPE)
6 Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng (CHN)
7 Markis Kido / Hendra Setiawan (INA)
8 Chai Biao / Zhang Nan (CHN)

Women’s Doubles

1 Cheng Wen Hsing / Chien Yu Chin (TPE)
2 Cheng Shu / Zhao Yunlei (CHN)
3 Petya Nedelcheva / Anastasia Russkikh (BUL/RUS)
4 Duang Anong Aroonkesorn / Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
5 Mizuki Fujii / Reika Kakiiwa (JPN)
6 Miyuki Maeda / Satoko Suetsuna (JPN)
7 Wang Xiaoli / Yu Yang (CHN)
8 Meiliana Jauhari / Greysia Polii (INA)

Mixed Doubles

1 Thomas Laybourn / Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN)
2 Sudket Prapakamol / Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA)
3 Robert Mateusiak / Nadiezda Zieba (POL)
4 Zhang Nan / Zhao Yunlei (CHN)
5 Songphon Anugritayawon / Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
6 Hendra Aprida Gunawan / Vita Marissa (INA)
7 Ko Sung Hyun / Ha Jung Eun (KOR)
8 Nathan Robertson / Jenny Wallwork (ENG)

For the complete, official list from the BWF website, CLICK HERE