Singapore shuttlers secure 4 more qualification berths on home soil

Story by Jan Lin/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei, Marvin Lowe and Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Tuesday, June 9, 2009 - The curtains on the 16th edition of the Singapore Badminton Open have been raised and the stage is set for top shuttlers from across the globe to battle for a share of the US$200,000 prize pot.

The Singapore shuttlers concluded their qualifying day of the annual badminton championship by capturing four of the 16 qualification berths in the main draw.

Fu Mingtian and Zhang Beiwen will join Xing Aiying in the women's singles main draw, while the mixed doubles pair of Chayut Triyachart of Shinta Mulia Sari and the men's doubles pair of Liu Yi and Jonathan Tang progressed to the main draw with relative ease.

Liu and Tang needed to play only one match to qualify as their seeded opponents had received promotion to the main draw due to a couple of late withdrawals.

This was good news for the young Singaporeans as only players in the main draw will pocket a share of the prize money. Singapore's Thai-Indonesian mixed doubles combination of Chayut and Shinta were first to take to the stage and first to taste joy as they overcame a first set deficit against their Korean counterparts, Kim Ki Jung and Kim Mi Young, to book a main draw slot with a nail-biting score line of 20-22, 21-19, 21-19.

Their mixed doubles compatriots – Jeffery Wong and Thng Ting Ting, Hendri Saputra and Vanessa Neo – were less fortunate especially when Saputra and Neo were forced to retire after taking the first game 21-19 with Vanessa going down with a quadriceps strain midway through the second set.

Wong and Thng, on the other hand, were silenced 21-18, 21-13 by the Netherlands' scratch pair of Koen Ridder and Yao Jie in just 22 minutes.

Less than three hours later, Chayut teamed up with Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and they took only 18 minutes to humble Australians Ong Rae Mun and Gary Tho 21-9, 21-11.

Chayut's good run was eventually halted by Germany's experienced pair of Kristof Hopp and Johannes Schoettler in a pulsating 50-minute match with scores of 18-21, 21-19, 21-19.

There was a concoction of joy and grief for the other two local men's doubles pairs, as Liu Yi and Jonathan Tang sneaked into the main draw at the expense of their team mates Jeffery Wong and Terry Yeo. After a 42-minute local affair, it was the consistency of Liu and Tang that dismantled their compatriots 19-21, 21-12, 21-17.

Liu and Tang will join brothers Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Hendra Wijiaya in the main draw of the men's doubles.

The women's singles event was to be the crowning success for Singapore on the qualifying day as the Republic swept two of the four qualifying tickets to the women's singles main draw.

Of the 16 contenders for the four elusive berths, eight of them were Singaporeans. But of the eight local ladies, only 19-year-old Zhang Beiwen and the 2008 World Junior doubles champion, Fu Mingtian, survived the qualifying rounds unscathed.

"It was my target to reach the main draw but I don't consider this as having completed a mission," said the versatile Fu Mingtian, who had defeated both of her qualifying day's opponents in straight sets.

"Though I was trailing in the second set (against Nguyen Le Ngoc)," Fu continued, "I kept telling myself to run for every shot because I want to be giving my very best, which is my goal. And I will continue to give my best even when I face China's world number 8 Lu Lan in the main draw."

Singapore Badminton Open – A picture story of local shuttlers
Singapore doubles pairs humble seeded shuttlers
Top seed Lee Chong Wei sweeps aside English top ace Andrew Smith in Singapore Badminton Open
Xing Aiying beats Danish Nanna Brosolat Jensen in Singapore Badminton Open
Singapore's Fu Mingtian conquered China's great wall
China's Xie Xingfang enters next round after beating Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin in Singapore Badminton Open
France's Pi Hongyan deposed by Bulgaria's Petya Nedelcheva in Round One of Singapore Badminton Open
Singapore shuttlers secure 4 more qualification berths on home soil
Fu Mingtian and Zhang Beiwen to face off China's fortress in first round of Singapore Badminton Open
Local shuttler Thng Ting Ting falls to Nguyen Nhung Le Ngoc in Singapore Badminton Open

More pictures in the gallery.