GN SPORTS CORPORATE NEWS
2010 YONEX Australian Open Information Update
Wed 23 June 2010
Date: 13-18 July 2010
Venue: Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Albert Park, Victoria
Level: Grand Prix US$50,000
Total number of Countries participating: 17 (Australia, England, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, Singapore, USA, Vietnam and Wales).
The men's singles is the strongest event with 59 entries. Tien Minh Nguyen from Vietnam heads the field, currently ranked at No.7 in the world. Tien Minh will be competing in the Singapore and Indonesia Super Series before heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open GP. In 2009 he was the winner of the Thailand GP Gold and Chinese Taipei GP Gold events.
Also in the men's singles will be the newly crowned winner of the Indian GP Gold played last week in Chennai, India. The winner, Yunus Alamsyah, from Indonesia, had to beat a number of top players to win his first GP event. Alamsyah will certainly be aiming to win the Australian Open title having tasted defeat by his fellow countryman Dionysius Rumbaka at last year's Australian Open.
Other notable entries in the men's singles includes Malaysian Lee Tsuen Seng, former winner of the New Zealand Open and other Grand Prix events, Yogendran Krishnan who won the Altona Future Series back in April, Malaysian top junior Zulfadi Zulkiffli, Raj Popat from Wales, Alistair Casey from Scotland, Harry Wright from England and a host of top international players. Heading the Australian contingent are Commonwealth Games aspirants Nick Kidd (WA) and Jeff Tho (Vic).
In the women's singles the stars are Megumi Taruno (Japan), Hye Youn Hwang (Korea), Sashina Waran (France), Anita Kaur (Malaysia), Karyn Velez (USA), Le Ngoc (Vietnam), Karen Foo (Mauritius) and Chia Chi Huang (Australia). In total there are over 40 entrants in the women's singles resulting in qualifying rounds being required.
In the men's doubles there are 27 pairs entered including the 2009 Australian Open defending champions and highest ranked pair Gan Tek Chai and Tan Bin Shen from Malaysia ranked No.15 in the world. They will have to reproduce their magnificent effort of last year against some of the Korea and Japanese top pairs and our own Glenn Warfe (Vic) and Ross Smith (Vic) who are making an impact on the world scene.
The women's doubles has 23 entrants including Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi ranked No.20 in the world, together with players from Korea's winning Uber Cup team Min Seo Kim and Kyung Won Lee (one half of world No.10) competing in the field. New Zealand's Danielle Barry and Donna Haliday are the highest Oceania ranked pairs at No.39 in the world. With Australia's Chia Chi Huang now concentrating on her singles, He Tian Tang will be partnering Renuga Veeran in Australian defense of the WD title won last year and a strong showing is expected.
The mixed doubles has 39 pairs competing. Qualifying rounds again will be required to get to the main draw. New Zealand's Henry Tam and Donna Haliday ranked at No.27 in the world head the field. Strong competition is expected from Japan's Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota, Korea's Tae Sang Park and Hyun Jung Ko and our own brother and sister combination of Raj and Renuga Veeran and our other pair of Glenn Warfe and Kate Wilson-Smith.
The draws will be made on Tuesday 29 June 2010 and posted on the YONEX Australian Open tournament website of www.australianbadmintonopen.com.au.
Tickets can be purchased through Badminton Victoria. There is limited seating available for the public so please purchase your tickets early as a sell out crowd is expected.
Please direct all enquiries to Badminton Victoria on 03 9686 4777 or Badminton Australia on 03 9397 4722.
