Hong Kong Open 2008 – Semis Overview (LIVE Streaming)

The Hong Kong Open is the Final Tournament of the Super Series tour. Ever man or woman will be fighting for a birth in the Super Series Masters Finals in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 18-21. 

In the men’s singles semi’s we have a highly anticipated game whereby the current Olympic Champion Lin Dan will take on the former Olympic Champion Taufik Hidayat. Both Lin Dan & Taufik will be needing a win to  secure the final spot in the super series masters. Who is your pick to win? To me, it’s a difficult game to predict as we all know, Lin Dan played a fantastic game in the finals of the China Open, however one can never under estimate Taufik who at his best we can take on the anyone in the world. Go Taufik!!! Goo!!  I’ll be supporting Taufik and I’m sure both of them will put on a great display of badminton today! Let’s hope to see some fine jumping smashes from Lin Dan and some great net play from Taufik. Both players are great tactically and both of them have the best badminton strokes and are masters of the game. It will be a very tactical game for both and I bet the game would be better than the finals of the China Open mens singles.

In the men’s doubles, Kien Keat-Boon Heong managed to upset Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan 21-11 & 21-17 in 21 minutes in the quaters. They take on fellow country mates  Zakry and Fairuz who has shown some form of improvement this year. Currently Zakry and Fairuz are ranked No. 2 in the super series tournament rankings. I think Zakry and Fairuz may take this game if Kien Keat-Boon Heong do not win the first game. However Zakry and Fairuz have already qualified for the Masters Finals and they might just give the game to Kien Keat-Boon Heong as they need a finals birth in this tournament to qualify. I was quite sad to see Chong Ming and Chew Eng go out in the other quaters to Nathan Robertson- Anthony Clark in 3 sets.  Well I just hope Chong MIng will play another year as I feel he has much to offer the game.

Malaysia’s most consistent doubles pair comes from the ladies. In the Women’s Doubles, Eei Hui and Pei Tty will be taking on the fifth seed Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting. In the China Open, the Malaysians lost to the chinese in the finals and they will be going all out for revenge. However, I do not see this happening as the Chinese look solid and stronger than the Malaysians. Malaysians however are good on defence and they have some variety in their game which can make an impact in the game. 

My prediction of the Hong Kong Open 2008 winners:

Men’s Singles: Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia)

Men’s Dobles: Jung Jae Sung & Lee Yong Dae (Korea)

Women’s Singles: Xie Xingfang (China)

Women’s Doubles: Zhang Yawen & Zhao Tingting (China)

Mix Doubles: Lee Yong Dae & Lee Hyo Jung (Korea)

Who’s your pick to win the above titles?

To all those who  want to catch the action online the draw and timing are as below:

Draw

Starting 1pm HK time

WD: Yawen ZHANG &Tingting ZHAO   [5] vs CHIN Eei Hui & WONG Pei Tty  [2]

MS: Boonsak PONSANA  vs Jin CHEN  [3]

WS: Lin ZHU  [5] vs Xingfang XIE  [4]

XD: Thomas LAYBOURN & Kamilla RYTTER JUHL  [6] vs Yong Dae LEE vs Hyo Jung LEE  [5]

MD: Kien Keat KOO & TAN Boon Heong   [5] vs Mohd Zakry & Mohd Fairuzizuan [4]

Starting 6.30pm

XD: Zhongbo XIE & Yawen ZHANG  [7] vs Bo ZHENG & Jin MA 

WS: Chen WANG  vs Mi ZHOU  [2]

MS: Taufik HIDAYAT  [7] vs Lin Dan  [2]

WD: Shu CHENG & Yunlei ZHAO  [8] vs Jung Eun HA & Min Jung KIM  [7]

MD: Jae Sung JUNG & Yong Dae LEE  [3] vs Anthony CLARK & Nathan ROBERTSON 

Go to channel GDTV by  downloading Sopcast or UUSee and the game will be at Sat 13:00~18:00 HK time.

Ciao da mao