21-Feb:
Adcock and Bankier in
World
Championship rematch
THE LUCK of the draw deserted world silver
medallists Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier
today when they landed a first-round clash with
China’s top seeds and world champions Zhang Nan
and Zhao Yunlei at next month’s Yonex All
England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
The Anglo-Scottish pair lost to the Chinese in the
final of the the Yonex BWF World Championships at
Wembley last August. But Adcock and Bankier have
already beaten them this year, winning in straight
games in the Victor Korea Open first round in
January.
Adcock and Bankier’s great GB rivals Nathan
Robertson and Jenny Wallwork also face a tough
start in this last Premier event on the OSIM BWF
World Superseries circuit before the year-long
Olympic qualifying race comes to a close at the end
of April.
They will begin their bid against Songphon
Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. If
they beat the Thailand pair they can expect to face
fifth seeds Chen Hung Ling and Cheng Wen Tsing
of Taepei in the last 16.
Robertson and Wallwork’s only previous meeting with
the Thai pair ended in a three-game defeat at the
BWF Superseries finals in 2010.
England’s Marcus Ellis and Heather Olver
contest the qualifying rounds and will start against
Malaysia’s Aik Quan Tan and Pei Jing Lai
while Scotland’s Robert Blair and Jillie Cooper
will take on second qualifying seeds Hong Wei
and Pan Pan of China.
The draw for the Championships, to be played at the
National Indoor Arena from March 6-11, is just as
tough on England’s other contenders. Five-times
English National men’s singles champion Rajiv
Ouseph must face 1999 champion and fourth seed
Peter Gade. Ouseph has never taken a game off
the Dane in seven meetings in ranking tournaments, having faced him most
recently at Wembley in the World Championships.
In the women’s singles GB rivals Susan Egelstaff
of Scotland and Elizabeth Cann of England
could meet in the second round of qualifying on
Championships Tuesday. Second qualifying seed
Egelstaff starts against Indonesia’ Maria Febe
Kusumastuti while Cann must take on Italy’s
Agnese Allegrini. The winner of that quarter
will go into the main draw to face Gu Juan of
Singapore.
In the men’s doubles new English National champions
Chris Adcock and Andrew Ellis begin their big
against Indonesia’s Alvent Yulianto Chandra and
Hendra Aprida Gunawan with the Korean second
seeds Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae almost
certain to await the winners as they start against
qualifiers. Adcock and Ellis won their only meeting
with the Indonesians, winning 27-25 21-19 at the
2010 French Open first round,
England’s other hopes, Chris Langridge and Peter
Mills need two wins to reach the main draw. They
start their qualifying battle against Thai top
qualifying seeds Bodin issara and Maneepong
Jongjit.
Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver are
England’s only contenders in the women’s doubles
main draw and they must take on sixth seeds
Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito in the first
round. The pairs have never met but they will
have done by the time they come to Birmingham as
they have also been drawn together at the Yonex
German Open first round in Mulheim at the end of the
month.
Three-times English National champions Wallwork
and Gabby White are aiming to join them in the
first round but will need to defeat Thailand’s
Savitree Amitrapai and Sapsiree Taerattanachai
in the first qualifying round and Canadian top
qualifying seeds Alex Bruce and Michelle Li
in the second round. And for the reward for winning
those two matches would be a first-round contest
with China’s top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang,
the defending champions.
Malaysian superstar Lee Chong Wei is bidding
for a hat-trick of men’s singles titles and he
begins his challenge against China’s Wang
Zhengming.
His great rival Lin Dan starts his title bid
against India’s Ajay Jayaram but his concerns
come later in the draw with team-mates Chen Jin,
who is the fifth seed, and Chen Long, the
third seed, his possible quarter-final and
semi-final opponents. Gade, Japan’s Sho Sasaki
(6) and Korea’s Lee Hyun-ll (8) are the seeds
in Chong Wei’s half, so he would avoid the Chinese
big guns until the final.
Denmark’s former champion Tine Baun again
leads the European challenge in the women’s singles
but she has been drawn to meet China’s top seed
Wang Yihan in the last eight and third seed and
defending champion Wang Shixian in the
semi-finals if the results go according to form.
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Men's
Singles
Women's
Singles
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