A number of comebacks and some difficult first round matches are the features of the small, but strong draws which have been completed for the US$50,000 KLRC badminton Grand Prix tournament to be held at the North Shore Events Centre 11-15 November.
Waitakere’s Dan Shirley a world championship bronze medalist and silver medalist for New Zealand at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games is returning to top competition for the tournament after retiring a year ago. His former doubles partner John Gordon is also playing top badminton again teaming up with Shirley in the men’s doubles. The pair were previously ranked in the top-10 in the world.
Another highly regarded player to come out of a short retirement is Australia’s Kate Wilson-Smith who is teaming up with Kiwi singles No1 John Moody to take part in a strong mixed draw.
The men’s singles is headed by Malaysian world No19 Sairul Amar Ayob who won the tournament in 2005. Ayob looks set to face Moody in the quarterfinals if all things go to plan. Taipei’s Yu Hsin Hsieh the tournament fourth seed will face talented Waikato teen, Bjorn Seguin while Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto is the fifth seed.
The tournament winner in 2006 Tsuen Seng Lee from Taipei is in the bottom half of the draw alongside seventh seed Alistair Casey(Scotland) who is based at North Harbour as a coach. Second seed Muhammad Roslin Hashim(Malaysia) plays local Dean Nuttall in the first round.
In the women’s singles draw world No3 Zhou Mi(Hong Kong) the defending champion is likely to meet talented North Harbour player Jessica Jonggowisastro, 17 who is already the New Zealand No3 senior representative and is currently playing in the world junior champs in India.
A key clash in the first round of the men’s doubles will feature Shirley and Gordon against two current New Zealand Olympians, Moody and Craig Cooper. The winner is likely to face the top seeds Fernando Kurniawan and Lingga Lie from Indonesia a couple of rounds later.
The women’s doubles has a Malaysian pair in the top spot with a Taipei duo as the second seeds while the mixed draw has plenty of interest. Shirley and Olympian, Renee Flavell will play top seeds Hung Ling Chen and Chia Chi Chou from Taipei in their first match. Moody and Wilson-Smith take on highly regarded Kiwi teenagers Kevin Dennerly-Minturn and Stephanie Cheng in the first round.
“There are some exciting early matches in the draws with some great opportunities for New Zealand players. There’s potential for spectators to see world-class players perform. Having the likes of Dan Shirley, John Gordon and Kate Wilson-Smith return to top play will add a little bit of spice to the action,” say Julie Carrel, KLRC Tournament Director.
The KLRC Grand Prix tournament to be held 11-15 November is supported by the North Shore City Council. The tournament will be broadcast live into China, Indonesia and Malaysia.
For more information please contact:
Julie Carrel - Events Manager Badminton New Zealand & KLRC Tournament Director
021760327
Or
Dave Worsley – media Badminton New Zealand
021 365 224
www.badminton.org.nz or www.klrcnzopen.com
Last Modified on 30/10/2008 07:16