Monday’s schedule: Men’s and Women’s Singles Round of 16, Men’s and Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals, and Mixed Double semifinals. It doesn’t get much better than that for Badminton fans around the world as the day is packed with thrilling matchups. The draw has been set so lets take a preview:
Men’s Singles Round of 16
Matches of note:
Rajiv Ouseph (Great Britain) vs. Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia)
After defeating Osleni Guerrero and Howard Shu in his previous two matches, Tommy Sugiarto will battle with Great Britain’s Rajiv Ouseph, who Sugiarto has beaten five times before in previous competition.
Scott Evans (Ireland) vs. Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)
Scott Evans ripped off his shirt in a moment of sheer delight after beating Brazil’s Ygor De Oliveira in his last match. He hopes to do that again on Monday but it will not be an easy task against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, one of the world’s best players.
Srikanth Kidambi (India) vs. Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark)
- After both took care of business in group play, this should be a fantastic matchup as Kidambi is ranked 11th in the world while Jorgensen is ranked 6th. Both are very athletic and skillful. This could end up being the best match of the day..
Other Matchups:
Ng Ka Long (Hong Kong) vs. Son Wan Ho (Korea)
Chou Tien-Chen (Chinese Taipei) vs. Hu Yun (Hong Kong)
Men’s Doubles Quarterfinal
Matches of note:
Ivanov/Sozonov (Russia) vs. Chai Biao/Hong Wei (China)
- Ivanov and Sozonov have had a great tournament so far but will have a tough time vs the #5 ranked duo in the world, Chai Biao and Hong Wei from China
Ellis/Langridge (Great Britian) vs. Endo/Hayakawa (Japan)
- One of the surprises of the tournament has to be the duo from Great Britain. They have played very well in every match so far and perhaps have exceeded expectations. But they could have a tough time beating the lightning quick tandem of Japan’s Endo and Hayakawa, the world’s 8th ranked men’s doubles team.
Other matchups:
Goh/Tan (Malaysia) vs Lee/Yoo (Korea)
Fu/Zhang (China) vs Kim/Kim (Korea)
Women’s Doubles Quarterfinal
Matches of note:
Matsutomo/Takahashi (Japan) vs. Hoo/Woon (Malaysia)
- The #1 ranked pairing in the world, Matustomo and Takahashi, take on a Malaysian duo that is ranked 15th and could make a surprising far run in the tournament.
Jung/Shin (Korea) vs. Muskens/Piek (Netherlands)
- Muskens and Piek advanced to the knockout round but got beaten soundly by Matsutomo and Takahashi. They will have to elevate their game to another level if they plan on beating the #2 ranked Korean duo, Jung/Shin.
Other matchups:
Tang/Yu (China) vs. Maheswari/Polii (Indonesia)
Pedersen/Rytter Juhl (Denmark) vs. Chang/Lee (Korea)
Women’s Singles Round of 16
Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) vs. Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand)
After a summer surrounded in a doping controversy (in which she was cleaerd of), the world’s 4th ranked women’s player Ratchanok Intanton looks to make a strong run towards the goal medal. Her first opponent in the way is Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, ranked 12th in the world. Yamaguchi will certainly not make it easy for Intanton to advance in what should be a great match.
Maria Utilina (Ukraine) vs. Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Thialand)
- After knocking off 5th ranked Saina Nehwal in her final group match, Utilina will play “Tip” from Thailand in her round of 16 match. Porntip defeated Hsuan-Yu Wendy from Australia in her last match and is the second Thai player, along with Intanon, to advance to the round of 16.
Other matchups:
P.V. Sindhu (India) vs. Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei)
Sung Ji Hyun (Korea) vs. Linda Zetchiri (Bulgaria)
Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) vs. Bae-Yeon Ju (Korea)
Mixed Doubles Semifinal
Zhang/Zhao (China) vs. Ahmad/Natsir (Indonesia)
After convincingly beating Kenta Kazuno and Ayane Kurihara 2-0 in the quarterfinals on Sunday night, the Zhang/Zhao looks like they will be awfully hard to beat as the #1 ranked team in the world. However, Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, the 3rd ranked team in the world, can match them. In the 2016 Badminton Asian Championships, the Indonesian duo took Zhang and Zhao down to the wire in a third game, eventually losing.
Chen/Jin (China) vs Chan/Goh (Malaysia)
After knocking off Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na from South Korea in quarterfinal action, Xu Chen and Ma Jin will battle with the skillful and savvy tandem of Chan/Goh from Malaysia, the 11th ranked team in the world. The Malaysian duo impressively dispatched of Mateusiak and Ziebda of Poland on Sunday night but their semifinal matchup with Chen/Jin should pose an even harder challenge.