HONG KONG OPEN 2011 R16 – Bollywood Night

Round 2 action at the Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open saw the departure of another five seeds, while only 1 pair is left to carry on the hopes of the host nation. India however was the big winner with two men’s singles reaching the quarter-finals.

By Gregory Chan. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Pullela Gopichand’s birthday presents came one day late. But the Indian coach saw two of his youngsters make it to the quarter-finals of a Super Series, in Hong Kong on Thursday.

The first upset was caused when China’s Du Pengyu, seeded 7^th, lost his second round match against Indian qualifier Gurusaidutt R.M.V. (photo) 21-15, 7-21, 13-21 as the Chinese just didn’t know how to answer Guru’s fast attacks. A few minutes later, his compatriot Ajay Jayaram was to put India once again under the spotlight with a convincing win over Malaysia’s Hafiz Hashim. It could have been 3 for India, if Chen Long had failed to beat another qualifier from India, but Chen did dispatch Aravind Bhat 21-10, 21-8.

There were to be no more heroics this time from Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki in his second round meeting against current Olympic and World Champion Lin Dan. Wong had beaten his more illustrious opponent last month in the Denmark Open, but had to be content this time with a 16-21, 16-21 loss. Korea’s Shon Wan Ho is up next for Lin Dan after the former caused an upset, taking out Germany’s 8^th seed Marc Zwiebler in 3 games  21-11, 11-21, 21-14.  The win actually saw Shon tentatively move past the German into the 8th slot for December’s Super Series Finals.

Gade out to forbid Chen for a fourth qualifying spot.

The 34-year old Peter Gade (photo) beat Japan’s Kazushi Yamada, who is more than 10 years younger than him, in 3 hard-fought games 21-13, 15-21, 21-11.

“I had to fight a bit hard to today to gain my win, but the drift on court made it very difficult on the one side and Yamada was quite good in handling it and put a lot of pressure on me in the 2^nd,” posted Peter on his Facebook page after his win. “However, I didn’t panic and still believed that I could move away from him in the 3rd and I was able to do that and make a safe win.”

Next up for the Dane is Chinese 5^th seed Chen Jin. On his upcoming match, Peter added “I really look forward to tomorrow’s game against Chen Jin. It’s been a while since we played each other and at the moment we’re fighting to gain the number 4 spot… Tomorrow’s match could be important in this matter but no matter what, I’ll give my utmost best and we’ll see.”

Earlier today, Chen Jin beat Peter’s compatriot Jan O Jorgensen in 2 straight games 21-16, 21-14. The last match of the day pitted the talented Danish youngster Viktor Axelsen (photo) against world number 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei. The top seed took just 26 minutes to beat the young Dane 21-15, 21-11 who committed far too many mistakes in the second game.

Mixed doubles

After their impressive first-round win yesterday, Malaysian youngsters Chan Peng Soon / Goh Liu Ying couldn’t repeat their performance and exited the tournament in the second round. The Malaysians were beaten by the Korean pairing of Ko Sung Hyun and his relatively new partner Eom Hye Won 17-21, 15-21 in the afternoon session. Up next for the Koreans are the recent Denmark and French Open champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen  / Christinna Pedersen (photo). The Danish combination, seeded 3rd in this tournament, had no problems beating Chinese Taipei’s Fang Chieh Min / Wang Pei Rong 21-13, 21-6 in just 29 minutes.

China’s top seeds Zhang Nan / Zhao Yunlei disposed of another Korean pair Kim Ki Jung / Jung Kyung Eun in 2 straight games, 21-18 and 21-16. Their compatriots He Hanbin / Bao Yixin await them in the quarter-finals.

The Russian pair of Alexandr Nikolaenko / Valeri Sorokina are quietly making their way through the draw after they beat yet another higher-ranked opponent. This time they sent 5^th seeds Michael Fuchs / Birgit Michels packing in straight games 21-15, 25-23. Will they be able to maintain their fine run in the next round? China’s Xu Chen and Ma Jin stand in their way. The second seeds took out India’s Diju V. / Jwala Gutta 21-18, 21-16. Chinese Taipei’s Chen Hung Ling / Cheng Wen Hsing, seeded 4^th, are also safely through to the next round after defeating England’s Nathan Robertson / Jenny Wallwork 25-23, 21-16.

Women’s singles

It was business as usual in the women’s singles department as all the seeded players are safely through to the quarter-finals. All three “Wangs”, the top three seeds from China, advanced today the next round. Wang Yihan had a tougher-than-expected encounter against Japan’s Minatsu Mitani and had to labour for a 21-18, 20-22, 21-16 win against an opponent ranked in the world’s top 40. Wang Shixian (photo) beat Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva 21-16, 21-10 while Wang Xin took care of Spanish rising star Carolina Marin  21-13, 21-15. Tine Baun and defending champion Saina Nehwal will meet each other in the quarters after both also advanced in straight games.  Baun dashed Canadian Michelle Li’s hopes of reaching her first ever Super Series quarter-final in the land of her birth.

Men’s doubles

Korea, Japan and China will each have two representatives each in the quarterfinals stage of the men’s doubles. In what would be a clash between former World Champions, China’s top seeds Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng will meet USA’s Howard Bach / Tony Gunawan in the next round. The Chinese beat Chinese Taipei’s Fang Chieh Min / Lee Sheng Mu 21-15, 21-8 while Bach / Gunawan needed 3 games to beat Naoki Kawamae / Shoji Sato from Japan 19-21, 21-14, 21-18.

Women’s doubles

A total of 3 seeded Japanese pairs lost their matches today in round 2. Firstly, 3^rd seeds Mizuki Fujii / Reika Kakiiwa lost out to Russia’s Valeri Sorokina / Nina Vislova 18-21, 19-21. Shizuka Matsuo / Mami Naito, seeded 7, then lost to Korea’s Jung Kyung Eun / Kim Ha Na 21-19, 17-21, 11-21. Former world number two, Miyuki Maeda / Satoko Suetsuna, the number 6 seeds, were sent packing by the last remaining local competitors, Poon Lok Yan / Tse Ying Suet 13-21, 20-22.  No such problems though for the top two seeds from China Wang Xiaoli / Yu Yang and Tian Qing / Zhao Yunlei, who advanced to the next round, each with a straight-game win over their respective opponents.

All results HERE

All photos from the event HERE

Live streaming here