Top Seed Tumbles At International

It was a case of different fortunes for men’s and women’s singles tournament top seeds on day two of the US$15,000 Li-Ning NZ Badminton International at the North Shore Events Centre.

After casually cruising through his second round singles match early in the day top men’s singles seed and world No18 Yun Hu(Hong Kong) played a lethargic and nonchalant third round contest to find himself defeated by Japan’s Riichi Takeshita 21-8 22-20 in 39 minutes. Another seed to lose in the men’s third round was India’s Arvind Bhat who lost in straight games to Taipei’s Hen Hao Hsu who faces Takeshita in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile it was a tough day on court for the Kiwi men. All five remaining local players were beaten in the second round of singles.

It was always going to be difficult for the New Zealand men as they all faced higher ranked opponents. The finalist at the recent national champs TJ Weistra was unable to take the court as a result of injury therefore giving Japan’s Takeshita a walkover while Kiwi No1 Joe Wu was defeated in straight sets by Malaysia’s Muhammed Hashim, a former all-England tournament winner in straight games.

Waikato’s James Paterson lost to Yogendran Krishnan(Malaysia) in straight games and Tom Armstrong was beaten by Belgian’s Yuhan Tan. The only Kiwi to run his opponent close was Southland’s James Eunson who took on American Sattawat Pongnairat and went to three games, eventually losing 21-13 15-21 21-11 in 42 minutes.

Women’s top singles seed and world No12 Pui Yin Yip moved into the quarterfinals with a straight game victory over Naoko Fukuman(Japan) and has yet to be troubled in the tournament so far. Also making the quarters is 2007 world champion, Lin Zhu of China who accounted for Indonesian seed Fransiska Ratnasari in a marathon 68 minute contest 12-21 21-19 21-19. Zhu will now play the second seed Tzu Ying Tai from Taipei in the quarterfinals.

The remaining Kiwi female singles player, Michelle Chan came close, but not close enough as she lost to third seed and world No25 Sayaka Sato(Japan) but was beaten 21-19 21-15.

The lone Kiwi combination to make the quarters of the mixed competition is the North Harbour combination of Tony Griffen and Maggie Chan who had a good win over the Taipei pair of Chi Bin Lu and Pei Hsin Chian 21-17 15-21 22-20 and now face a seeded Peruvian pair in the quarterfinals.

In the men’s doubles Oliver Leydon-Davis(Waikato) and James Eunson(Southland) beat their American opponents in the first round 27-25 in the final game. Also winning their first round doubles were the Kiwi teams of Tony Griffen and Shane Masinipeni as well as Kerrin Harrison and Leck Sheng Tam.

The tournament continues until the finals on Sunday.

Men’s singles second round:
Yuhan Tan(Belgiam) bt Tom Armstrong 21-15 21-14, Wing Ki Wong(Hong Kong) bt Kaveh Mehrabi(Iran) 21-11 21-11, Yan Kit Chan(Hong Kong) bt Sho Zeniya(Japan) 21-16 11-21 21-11, Tommy Sugiarto(Indonesia) bt Christopher Flores(Philippines) 21-9 21-9.
Third round:
Riichi Takeshita(Japan) bt Yun Hu(Hong Kong) 21-8 22-20, Yan Kit Chan(Hong Kong) bt Sattawat Pongnairat(USA) 21-14 21-6, Jen Hao Hsu(Taipei) bt Arvind Bhat(India) 21-19 21-16, Kazumasa Sakia(Japan) bt Matthiew Lo Ying Ping(France) 21-11 21-13.

Women’s singles second round:
Malvinne Anne Venice Alcala(Philippines) bt Ana Rovita(Indonesia) 21-16 21-17, Pei Hsin Chiang(Taipei) bt Mingtian Fu(Singapore) 21-13 21-18, Pui Yin Yip(Hong Kong) Naoko Fukuman(Japan) 21-12 21-9, Tzu Ying Tai(Taipei) bt Maria Kristin Yulianti(Indonesia) 21-9 21-13, Lin Zhu(China) bt Fransiska Ratnasari(Indonesia) 12-21 21-19 21-19, Sayaka Sato(Japan) bt Michelle Chan 21-19 21-15.

Men’s doubles first round:
Akshay Dewalker/Arun Vishnu(India) bt Chance Cheng/Joe Wu 21-14 21-14, Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Hendra Wijaya(Singapore) bt Kevin Dennerly-Minturn/Henry Tam 21-11 21-14, Hiroyuki Saeki/Ryota Taohata(Japan) bt Alistair Casey(Scotland)/Brock Matheson 21-8 21-12, Kah Ming Chooi/Yao Han Ow(Malaysia) bt Evan Lee Maika Phillips 21-7 21-6, Tony Griffen/Shane Masinipeni bt Nathan David/Joel Findlay(Australia) 21-14 18-21 22-20, James Eunson/Oliver Leydon-Davis bt Phillip Chew/Sattawat Pongnairat(USA) 21-23 21-9 27-25, Micahel Fariman/Hoang Pham(Australia) bt Jacky Chek/Burty Molia 21-11 21-4, Chung Jen Chen/Yen Jei Lin(Taipei) bt Dhanny Oud/Riga Oud 21-7 21-12, Ben McCarthy/Desaratharaj Veeran(Australia) bt Kaizar Bobby Alexander(Indonesia)/Asher Richardson 21-19 21-16.