Singapore’s duo Vanessa and Shinta beat Malaysia 2-0 to progress to Preliminaries on Day Two

BADMINTON

Aviva Open Singapore 2007 Super Series
Tuesday, 1 May, 2007, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium

Story by Lee Hwee Cheng. Pictures by Leslie Tan, official photographer of the Aviva Open Singapore 2007. © Red Sports/soulbreath pictures

Singapore’s Women’s Doubles team of Vanessa Neo and Shinta Mulia Sari beat Malaysia’s Ng Hui Lin and Woon Khe Wei 2-0 (23-21, 24-22) to progress into tomorrow’s Preliminary Round. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

The Red Sports Crew will be having an exciting week ahead as we juggle our time between the various school tournaments and a major international sporting event.

The cat has to be let out of the bag by now, and you’d be proud to know our Uncle Les has been appointed the official photographer for the ongoing Aviva Open Singapore 2007 from May 1 to 6!

Just how grand a scale and exhilarating is this event to us, you might wonder?

Well, very. This year’s Aviva Open Singapore, widely touted to be tougher than the Olympics, has been conferred a new augmented status as part of the Badminton World Federation’s Super Series – it is the fifth leg out of a total of twelve. The event will also be the first to offer highly coveted qualifying points for next year’s Olympics Games in Beijing. All the top thirty players in both the men’s and women’s world rankings are making their way here to the Indoor Stadium. And the carrot that is dangling for all throughout the six-day event? A cool USD200,000 for the grand winner.

So, this is an event in the sporting world that puts Singapore on the map. And you kids out there playing for your school in your team colours are sharing the very same professional sports photographer (whom you also affectionately call ‘Uncle Les’) as these world-class athletes. Ain’t that cool?

Uncle Les is really at work. So busy is he, you can’t blame the look of constipation, can you? Photo by Lai Jun Wei.

The first day of the event started at nine this morning, and all qualifying games have since been played and are still going on as I write.

A total of twenty youngsters donned their Singapore jerseys and took on challengers from Malaysia, Indonesia, France, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Denmark and China. All played to their utmost and our Women’s Doubles duo of Neo Yu Yan Vanessa and Shinta Mulia Sari did well by progressing into the Preliminary Rounds that start tomorrow, May 2. They will ironically meet another home team duo – Jiang Yanmei and Li Yujia – in the afternoon.

Our very own world-ranked players – the likes of Ronald Susilo (ranked 23rd), Kendrick Lee (25th) and Li Li (18th) – will also take to the courts tomorrow, together with other world-renowned counterparts such as China’s Lin Dan (Men’s world no.1), his off-court partner Xie Xingfang (Women’s world no.1), his compatriots Bao Chunlai and Chen Jin (world no.2 and 3 respectively), Aviva Open defending champion Peter Gade of Denmark, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, and reigning Olympic Champion and Asian Games Gold medalist, Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.

Watch this space over the next few days for post-game reports coming right up, Red Sports interviews with our homegrown youth talents, and another ‘live’ report coming tomorrow – all on your Red Sports web site.

For other event-related information, please visit the official web site at www.singaporebadmintonopen.com.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at our Singapore team today.

Singapore’s first Women’s Singles player Fu Mingtian lost an early lead and eventually fell 1-2 (21-14, 13-21, 8-21) to Indonesia’s Fransisca Ratnasari. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Women’s Singles player Chen Jiayuan beat French Weny Rahmawati 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) in her first game. She went on to overcome a second-set scare to beat Malaysia’s Anita Raj Kaur 2-1 (21-7, 18-21, 21-19) in her second game. She wasn’t third-time lucky when she eventually fell 0-2 (16-21, 5-21) to Hong Kong’s Mi Zhou. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Women’s Singles player Gu Juan fell 0-2 (20-22, 19-21) to Korea’s Lee Yun Hwa. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s first Men’s Singles player Chew Swee Hau lost an early lead and fell 1-2 (21-14, 19-21, 13-21) to Filipino Kennevic Asuncion. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Singles player Febriyan Irvannaldy fell 0-2 (15-21, 10-21) to Malaysia’s Vountus Indra Mawan. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Singles player Erwin Djohan fought back after trailing early but eventually fell 1-2 (12-21, 21-18, 14-21) to Malaysia’s Mohd Arif Abdul Latif. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Singles player Aaron Tan Wei Kiat overcame a slow start to eventually beat Indonesia‘s Tommy Sugiarto 2-1 (11-21, 21-16, 21-19). In his second qualifying match however, he fell 0-2 (14-21, 15-21) to Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh and crashed out of the tournament. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Singles player Markus Wijanu Dwi Christanto fell 0-2 (13-21, 20-22) to Indonesia’s Alamsyah. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Singles player Ashton Chen Yong Zhao won his first game in a walkover when Malaysia’s Pei Wee Chung retired from the first set at 10-12 after suffering an ankle injury. Ashton proceeded to his second match the next day but fell 0-2 (12-21, 9-21) to another Malaysian, Wong Choong Hann. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s first Men’s Doubles team of Jonathan Tang and Thng Boon Seong fell 0-2 (13-21, 10-21) to Malaysia’s Vountus Indra Mawan and Mohd Arif Abdul Latif. Photo by Leslie Tan./Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Doubles team of Ricky Widianto and Chayut Triyachat fell 0-2 (12-21, 19-21) to Chinese duo Guo Zhendong and Xie Zhongbo. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Men’s Doubles team of Khoo Kian Teck and Koh Yan Sen fell 0-2 (13-21, 10-21) to Malaysia’s Khoo Chung Chiat and Mohd Razif Abdul Latif. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s Women’s Doubles team of Yao Lei and Frances Liu Fan fell 1-2 (16-21, 21-17, 15-21) to Malaysian duo Haw Chiou Hwee and Lim Yin Loo. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s first Mixed Doubles team of Khoo Kian Teck and Frances Liu Fan fought back in the second set to a level but eventually fell 1-2 (20-22, 21-17, 8-21) to Danish duo Jens Eriksen and Helle Nielsen. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Singapore’s next Mixed Doubles team of Koh Yan Sen and Vanessa Neo Yu Yan fell 0-2 (5-21, 11-21) to Polish-English duo Michal Logosz and Natalie Munt. Photo by Leslie Tan/Red Sports