Top int'l players face off at RP Open Badminton

An early battle between world No. 2 Chen Hong of China and reigning Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat are in the offing at the five-day Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships which starts Wednesday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig. If they play as expected, Chen and Hidayat are expected to win handily in their first three assignments before meeting in the quarterfinals in what promises to be an explosive duel between two of the world's finest players in the upper half of the 64-player main draw, according to a press statement Tuesday from event organizers. Meanwhile, in the women's singles, the top three seeds – Xu Huaiwen of Germany, France's Pi Hongyan, and Malaysian Mew Choo Wong – pulled out on the eve of the $120,000 event, somehow taking the luster off their side of the championship. Xu, ranked No. 5 in the world, was injured while playing in last week's China Masters, while Pi, the world No. 6 who arrived Sunday with the French team, was running a fever. Wong, No. 11 in the world and seeded third in the tournament, also withdrew due to injury. The absence of the three players puts Eriko Hirose of Japan, Hong Kong's Pui Yin Yip, and Dane Tine Rasmussen as the top three seeds — and also leaves three additional slots to be disputed in the qualifier being held as of this posting. The players in the men's side, however, remain intact. Hidayat, a six-time Indonesian Open champion who won the gold medal in the Asian Games last year, beat Chen the last time they clashed for the men's singles title in the Asian Championships in Malaysia last April, giving the talented 25-year-old Indonesian the momentum if ever they get to meet in the last-eight round. Chen, a two-time All England and China Open winner who defeated Hidayat for the first time in the quarterfinals of last year's World Championships, is the top seed in the talent-laden field that also features four of the world's top 10 players, including Hidayat, now at No. 10 in world ranking. Malaysian world No. 3 Lee Chong wei gets the No. 2 seeding and is expected to face stiff opposition in the lower bracket, particularly from No. 11 Andrew Smith of England, whom he could meet in the third round in a battle for a quarterfinals seat. World No. 6 Bao Chunlai is also fancied to breeze through the first three rounds and into the quarters in the lower half of the draw, so does world No. 8 Kenneth Jonassen, who is expected to ram into defending champion Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in the quarterfinal round in the upper bracket. Other players to watch in the ladies singles are Li Li of Singapore and defending champion Saina Nehwal of India, who stunned Xu in the semis last year en route to the championship. Filipino sisters Raquel and Rachel Guerrero gained a ticket in the main draw of the women's doubles, but they will have their hands full against Sook Chin Chong and Amelia Anselly in the first round. But if they get past the Malaysian tandem, the Guerreros are lined up to face Yu and Wen in the second round. The brother-sister tandem of Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion take on the Portuguese pair of Filipa Lamy and Alexandre Paixao. The Filipino bets open their bid in the mixed doubles event in the lower half of the 32-team draw, where they settled for runner-up honors after losing to Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthangkam in last year's finale. The Thais, however, begged off the chance to defend their crown, leaving the Indonesians to dominate the event by bringing in the top seeded Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto and the No. 2 tandem of Vita Marissa and Flandy Limpele. Tickets to the five-day event are now on sale at Ticketworld at the National Book Store outlets. Tickets are pegged at P300, P200, P150, P100, and P50 in the eliminations to quarterfinal stage. Tickets in the semis and finals are priced at P500, P400, P300, P200 and P50. The event, organized by IMG and held under the auspices of the Philippine Badminton Association, will be shown live on Solar Sports and RPN-9 beginning with the semifinal round on July 21 and the finals on July 22. For the second straight year, the tournament is being sponsored by Bingo Bonanza Corp. - GMANews.TV