Malaysia Gold 2010
Tuesday, 13 Jul 2010
Malaysia Gold 2010   CHONG WEI STAMPS CLASS IN MALAYSIAN GOLD   Malaysian Lee Chong Wei continues to be the player to beat. In the wake of his four Super Series wins – Malaysian, Korean, All England and Indonesian - in 2010, the world top ranked player, stands quite alone at the top rung. Except for that unexpected ‘blip’ at the Singapore Open in mid-May, he has remained unbeaten.   At the Malaysian Open in the south Malaysian city of Johore Baru last Sunday, it was another formality to add a further title to his name. Though the Gold event did not attract the strongest players in world ranking, yet the presence of Taufik Hidayat and Boonsak Ponsana gave it some credibility.   In the final, Chong Wei faced his teammate Wong Choon Hann, who a day earlier had smothered the dream of Taufif Hidayat with an unexpected but exciting 21-13, 24-22 win. Against Choon Hann, the world no. 1 was at his brilliant best with devastating body and cross court smashes complemented with neat net-drops and deep lops that had his opponent all tied in knots, winning 21-8.   But surprisingly, Chong Wei failed to maintain the same momentum in the second and let his advantage slip and was forced into a ‘rubber.’ He was later to admit that it was ‘complacency’ that had seen him lose the second game. But as champions often do, the silver medalist of the Beijing Olympics came back strongly to take the rubber at 21-15.   From here, Chong Wei will make his way to the Macau Open, scheduled for later this month and then probably the Taipei tournament before flying off to Paris for the World Championships. The Malaysian has never been successful at the World Championships and hopes to put the record straight with a title-winning performance.

Indonesia Open 2010
Monday, 28 Jun 2010
SAINA, THE TOAST OF INDIA   India ’s badminton darling Saina Nehwal notched up an incredible hat-trick of titles when she successfully defended her Indonesian Super Series title at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Sunday afternoon. In the previous three weeks she had won the Indian and Singapore Opens.   This is unprecedented in the history of Indian badminton. No individual, man or lady from the subcontinent has ever won a Super Series titles, let alone three!   This pretty, unassuming 20-year old Haryana-born Saina, set the tone for her incredible run of Super Series success at the Indonesian Open last year. Her second followed in Singapore last week and on Sunday, she completed her third elite title. A week prior the Singapore event, she had won the Indian Open.   To her credit, she is also the first Indian girl to enter the quarter-finals of an Olympics, a semi-finalist at the All England and a World Junior Champion.   Outside the arena of competition, Badminton World Federation has now officially elevated her to the status of the third ranked player in Ladies Singles, the highest ever scaled by an Indian. Her upward swing has her now placed a rung below China ’s Wang Yihan and Wang Xin.   At the Indonesian Open on Sunday afternoon, Saina took three games to beat young Japanese Sayaka Sato, 21-19, 13-21, 21-11. Obviously the pressure to perform as the top seed took its tool in the early stages of the match, but once she got into the groove in the third, the final outcome was a mere formality.     Probably Saina’s task was made that much the easier with the absence of top Chinese players at the Singapore and Indonesian Opens. But both the events were graced by some very strong names in Ladies Singles - Tine Rasmussen, Zhou Mi, Lu Lan, Pi Hongyan, Eriko Hirose, Yao Jie, Bae Seung Hee.   There are six more Super Series and a Grand Final to be completed this year with the China Open being the next in September. While these may play a prominent role in Saina’s preparation for her continued progress along the ranks, she has indicated though that her priority would be the World Championships in Paris in August, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October and the Guangzhou Asian Games in November. An exciting year filled with lot of promises and opportunities awaits the young Indian girl.

Singapore Open 2010
Thursday, 24 Jun 2010
SINGAPORE LADIES CELEBRATE UNPRECEDENTED WIN   The Singapore leg of the 2010 Super Series will go down in history as a special event in the sequence of the Series for a number of reasons, all of which speak glowingly for the continued development and promotion of the sport. Primary among them the fact that all five disciplines produced champions from five different countries, none of the winners had ever won the event in Singapore before, host nation Singapore won its first ever Super Series title and an Indian picked up a title at the Open for the first time in its history.   The major spoils of the Open were shared among entries from Indonesia , India , Taipei , Singapore and Denmark .   For India ’s Saina Nehwal and Singapore ’s Shinta Mulia Sari & Yao Lei, their win was the second title in two weeks. They had won the Singles and Doubles respectively at the Indian Open a week earlier.   The biggest cheer on Sunday evening was deservedly reserved for the home duo of Shinta & Yao who rewarded the home crowd’s partisan support with an upset victory over the fifth-seeded Koreans Kim Min Jung & Lee Hyo Jung. The 21-17, 22-20 pulsating finish to the Ladies Doubles was a fitting reward to the Singapore girls who had been consistent in their strong performance throughout the series.   For 20-year old Saina, the Singapore success was her second Super Series title, coming in the wake of the first she won in Jakarta a year ago. She is the only Indian player, male of female, to have won a Super Series event. She also achieved a ‘first’ for India when she qualified to the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics two years ago.

Indian Badminton Joins the Elite
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Indian badminton took a giant step in its development programme when it decided to join the Super Series circuit beginning 2011. Up to this point of time, India has only been organizing Grand Prix events with limited monies as prizes. Obviously with the Super Series offering substantial cash rewards, the Indian Open had not been a favoured drawcard among the elite players of the world. But this will be a thing of the past from next year when the Indian Open will be elevated to Super Series status with prize monies in excess of US200,000.   The decision to upgrade the Indian leg of the international circuit was confirmed at the recently concluded Annual General Meeting of Badminton World Federation in Kuala Lumpur . A delighted V.K Verma, President of the Badminton Association of India and a vice-president of BWF expressed that the Indian entry was timely and deserved. “Indian players have proved themselves in recent times with creditable performances across the globe. Apart from the very distinctive and significant position of Saina Nehwal in world ranking, India also produced two semi-finalists at the recently concluded World Junior Championships in Mexico .”   Indian entry to the elite division was at the expense of the Swiss Open.

KOREA SCORES ITS FIRST UBER CUP SUCCESS
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Korea sprang a major upset with a 3-1 win over highly favoured China in the nation’s first ever Uber Cup success. This was also the Korean girls’ first decisive victory over China in the ladies Team Championship since the two nations met the first time in 1988. Since then, Korea had faced China on four occasions - ’90, ’92, ’02, ’04 – and each time had returned home second best. That scene was set for repeat at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday afternoon basing on the strength of the two teams in the run-up to the 2010 Uber Cup Final. Also on paper, China was markedly higher ranked in both the Singles and Doubles and it was a very long shot anyone would have forecast a Korean surprise.

KOREA SCORES ITS FIRST UBER CUP SUCCESS
Monday, 17 May 2010
Korea sprang a major upset with a 3-1 win over highly favoured China in the nation’s first ever Uber Cup success. This was also the Korean girls’ first decisive victory over China in the ladies Team Championship since the two nations met the first time in 1988. Since then, Korea had faced China on four occasions - ’90, ’92, ’02, ’04 – and each time had returned home second best.

JAPAN QUALIFIES FOR FIRST-EVER THOMAS CUP SEMI-FINALS
Thursday, 13 May 2010
China is posed tantalizingly close to collecting a ‘double’ as the Thomas and Uber Cup competitions enter the semi-final stage in Kuala Lumpur. In both events, Chinese players are heavily favoured to repeat their success of the last season. None of the teams China will face in the semi-finals – Malaysia in the Thomas Cup and Indonesia in the Uber Cup, have been impressive enough in the run-up to this stage of the competition to pose a serious threat.

JAPAN KNOCKS MALAYSIA OUT OF GROUP LEADERSHIP
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Japan caused the first ripple in the otherwise placid waters of the Thomas Cup Final in Kuala Lumpur last night when it edged out an overconfident Malaysia 3-2 in the final group B tie to top the group. That unexpected victory over host Malaysia has ensured it a seeding in the last eight and opened up the real possibility of the Japanese men making their first ever appearance in the Final of the Thomas Cup scheduled for Sunday. In the Draw that followed to determine who plays who in the quarter-finals, Japan has been drawn to meet Germany in the last eight and a win there will pit it against the winner of the India-Indonesia tie in the semi-finals. Japan could not have asked for a more convenient route to realize its most cherished dream of winning the coveted trophy for the first time.

THE QUARTER-FINALIST WILL BE IDENTIFIED TONIGHT
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Tonight world badminton will experience the final touch to the process of separating the proverbial ‘wheat from the chaff’ when India takes on Australia in the final group match in the Thomas Cup competition. The top eight from the Uber Cup and seven from the Thomas Cup into the quarter-final were confirmed when play ended at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur last night. There were no surprises.

A COOL START TO THE 2010 THOMAS-UBER CUPS
Monday, 10 May 2010
It was literally a ‘walk-in-the-park’ for ranked teams on the opening day of the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Kuala Lumpur last night. Except for one tie - Japan against Germany - in the Uber Cup competition where Juliane Schenk took the opening point against Eriko Kirose, every other tie finished in a white wash. The first day’s play gave little indication of the possibility of any unexpected surprise developing in the group matches which will be completed tomorrow. Early indications are that the more fancied teams like China. Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Denmark are set to dominate in both the Thomas and Uber Cups.

THE THOMAS-UBER CUPS SHOWDOWN STARTS THIS WEEKEND
Friday, 07 May 2010
The Finals of the 2010 Thomas & Uber Cups start at the Putra Badminton Stadium in Kuala Lumpur this weekend. Twelve teams will participate in each of the two Finals. The format of play ensures that there is at least one representation from each of the five regions of the world. Asia as the powerhouse of the sport has the maximum number of countries in both the Thomas and Uber Cup finals with 6 national teams in each, just ahead of Europe’s three. The Americas, Africa and Oceania have one each.

CHINA SHOULD START FAVOURITE TO RETAIN THE THOMAS CUP
Tuesday, 04 May 2010
A body-blow might be too harsh a word to use but the feelings in Kuala Lumpur are that the Draw for the Thomas Cup organized recently by officials from the Badminton World Federation has put Malaysia on the back foot. Seeded third behind China and Indonesia , the host will be hard pressed to find a place in the Final.   The blame for this weak seeding for a nation that is home to the world top ranked players in the Singles and Doubles is a surprise. But with Thomas Cup being a team event, the final analysis in the ranking of teams is determined on the overall performance of a set of national players and not any individual player. Therein the problem, and Malaysia lost out to China and Indonesia on ranking points in this countback.

GUADALAJARA SETS NEW STANDARDS
Wednesday, 28 Apr 2010
The recently-concluded World Junior Championship at the CODE Dome in Guadalajara , Mexico produced some remarkable records. To start with, a European was named the Men Singles Champion, a Thai became the first lady to win the Singles back-to-back; both the winners at 15 and 16 years respectively, were too young to qualify for the Youth Olympics in Singapore in August; China failed at these two events for the first time since the inception of the series in 1992. Fifteen year old Danish teenager Viktor Axelsen was over the moon with his success at the World Championship. “I really cannot believe that I’ve won the title. And to become the first European to do so is even more meaningful,” expressed an ecstatic Viktor after his 21-19, 21-10 demolition of Korea ’s Kang Jik Wook in the final.

LIN DAN WINS HIS FIRST ASIAN TITLE
Wednesday, 21 Apr 2010
It is ironic that Lin Dan, China ’s triple World Champion, gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics, holder of four All England titles, winner of numerous Super Series legs had to wait until last weekend to win his first Asian title!   With his ranking in ‘tatters’ going by his own high standard, Lin Dan was entered for the Asian Championships in Delhi primarily to help him get back to his winning ways. In recent years, the Asian flagship hardly attracted the top-liners.   The Chinese ace had a disastrous start to 2010, failing badly at the third and fourth legs of the Super Series after having skipped the opening two events in Malaysia and Korea .

BASE Project 2010_Uzbekistan
Monday, 12 Apr 2010
“BASE Reaches Central Asia”   Our grassroots program has started expanding the roots in Central Asia. The recent deliveries of the BASE Project equipments to our member associations delegate in the Asian Junior Championships have reached Central Asia with Uzbekistan Badminton Federation doing the honours.

BASE Project Symbolic Presentation 2010
Thursday, 08 Apr 2010
“BASE Project Launched”   The first phase of “badminton in a bag” grassroot equipment was delivered in conjunction with the final day of the Badminton Asia under 19 Team Championship. The bag, under the newly launched Badminton Awareness in Schools and Educational institution (BASE) Project is simply another one of BAC’s effort to promote badminton in developing countries under the Continental Governing Body’s development committee. Among the countries that had received their bags are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Maldives, Cambodia and Pakistan. The development committee chairman, Mr. Ganga Rao presented the equipments to the team delegate of teams participating in the annual junior championship. He also encouraged the member associations to work in hand with the BAC development unit to grow badminton sport in their respective country using the various available programs in BAC.   

INDIA ENJOYS UNPRECEDENTED RECOGNITION AT ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Tuesday, 06 Apr 2010
The 2010 Asian Championships could herald in a new inspiration that could aid India set the record straight to the present status quo of the sport in the region.   For far too long, Asian badminton had been dominated by China , Indonesia , Malaysia and Korea primarily. India hopes to break this trend and set the stage for a fresh and promising start to its breed of young players in its various development stables to catapult the nation to new heights and earn recognition as one among the elite of Asia . The start could come at its own backyard Delhi and as early as12th April, the first day of the 2010 Asian Championships.  

CHINA DOMINATES ASIAN JUNIOR 2010
Monday, 29 Mar 2010
China completed a near white-wash of this year’s Asian Junior Championships at the Juara Badminton Stadium on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, winning five of six titles.   The Chinese youngsters regained the team title which it lost to Malaysia last year with its ladies playing a dominant role in securing the 3-2 win. The Mixed Doubles, Ladies Singles and Doubles went China ’s way with Malaysia taking the Men’s Singles and Doubles. Thailand and Indonesia were declared joint third.

CHONG WEI WINS HIS FIRST OF FOUR DREAM TITLES IN BIRMINGAM
Tuesday, 16 Mar 2010
Lee Chong Wei picked up the first of his life’s four dream titles in world badminton when he beat Japanese youngster Kenichi Tago to capture the All England Singles crown in Birmingham on Sunday night.   In his continuing chase to complete his career ‘Grand Slam’, he will spearhead the Malaysian challenge in the May Thomas Cup series in Kuala Lumpur , the World Championship in Paris in August and a gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012.

CHINA WINS TOP BILLING FOR THOMAS AND UBER CUPS
Tuesday, 09 Mar 2010
There were no surprises when the Draw for the 2010 Thomas and Uber Cups Final Rounds were completed in Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon. China heads both the series with Indonesia and Korea splitting the second ranking in the two Cups respectively. The Draw was conducted by Badminton World Federation officials at a leading hotel in the city in the presence of invited guests and the media.   Following the completion of the preliminaries held in the five regions of the Federation earlier in the year, 13 nations qualified to join China , the defending Champion in both the Thomas and Uber Cups and host Malaysia for the Final round from 9 to 16 May. They also included Japan in the Thomas Cup which came through at the expense of the Ukraine as the better 4 th -ranked nation between Asia and Europe and India in the Uber Cup series, winning on a similar format to edge out the Dutch ladies.