The second HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 to take place in Oceania this year comes to Sydney in June. The entry list demonstrates a long list of world-class talent; all hungry for success and a head start as the qualification period for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is officially underway.
Taking place from Tuesday 4 – Sunday 9 June 2019 at Quaycentre Sydney Olympic Park, more than 20 players who have been world number 1 have signed up to compete.
In the men’s singles, Jonatan Christie will be looking to repeat his performance at the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open, where he walked away with the gold medal. Moreover, all of the quarter-finalists at last week’s event have entered, with only one player currently sitting in reserves – China’s Sun Feixiang.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, four out of the world’s top 5 are showing every intention of maintaining their top ranking positions: Nozomi Okuhara, Japan (#2); Yufei Chen, China (#3), Akane Yamaguchi, Japan (#4) and Pusarla V.Sindhu (#5). Meanwhile, last week’s champion at the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open, An Se Young of Korea is currently sitting in the reserves. The seventeen-year-old star has displayed her confidence and ability on the senior stage, but at world number 78 at the time of entry, the young player will be relying on withdrawals from the world’s top players before being invited into the qualifiers or main draw.
All three doubles disciplines will see last week’s champions looking to extend their Olympic qualifying campaign with another win, while surrounded by at least seven out of the top ten ranked pairs in the world.
Indonesia’s Mohmmad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan were on top form in New Zealand, and will have to compete against the likes of 2018 World Champions, Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China (World #3) and compatriots Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto (World #5) – both pairs didn’t compete in last week’s HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 event in New Zealand.
The women’s doubles entry list demonstrates the strength and depth of badminton in Japan at the minute, with almost half of the top ten pairs competing for the nation. The 2018 World Champions, Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto, and runners-up Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota – both from Japan – will be looking to recover from their defeat to Korea’s Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open, accompanied by several other Asian pairs.
Currently, it isn’t until number 24 (out of 28) entries into the main draw before you reach a pair from outside Asia, where regional champions from Oceania and Pan-America will be competing: Australia’s Gronya Somerville and Setyana Mapasa and Canada’s Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai.
Similarly, England’s Chris and Gabrielle Adcock will be flying Europe’s flag as the only pair currently entered into the mixed doubles main draw from the region. The New Zealand Open champions, Liu Ying Goh and Peng Soon Chan from Malaysia have also entered and will be accompanied by China’s world number 2 pairing, Yilyu Wang and Dongping Huang, who are consistently reaching tournament finals over the last year. Meanwhile, Canada’s Joshua Hurlburt-Yu and Josephine Yu are Pan-America’s only entrant into the main draw and Australia’s Simon Leung and Gronya Somerville have accepted the wild card entry into the event.
Australia has accepted a wild card for four out of five disciplines at the Crown Group Australian Open, including:
- Men’s singles – Daniel Fan
- Women’s singles – Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen (Women’s Singles Champion at the recent VICTOR Oceania Individual Championships)
- Men’s doubles – Simon Wing Hang Leung/Mitchell Wheller (Men’s Doubles Runners-Up at the recent VICTOR Oceania Individual Championships)
- Mixed doubles – Simon Wing Hang Leung/Gronya Somerville (Mixed Doubles Champion at the recent VICTOR Oceania Individual Championships)
Find out more information on the official event website.
