Brace for high-level badminton games

South Korea’s Son Wan Ho competes in the men’s singles draw at the Macau Open 2019.(BADMINTON WORLD FEDERATION)

Expect high-level badminton matches at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, as a former world No. 1 player has joined the roster of participants in the back-to-back 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifying tournaments that the NMI will be hosting starting this Tuesday, June 6. 

South Korea’s Son Wan Ho, who in 2017 was ranked No. 1 in the world, will be one of the players to watch, as the organizing Northern Marianas Badminton Association holds the Northern Marianas Open 2023 and the Saipan International 2023. The first leg of the pair of 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifiers will run until June 11, while the last one will take place from June 13 to 18, with Ho entered in the men’s singles and is anticipated to collide with fellow Olympian and tournament top seed Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in the third round of the main draw. Son, who is currently ranked No. 155 in the world, represented South Korea in the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Brazil Olympics before his ascension to the top of the world rankings. 

Also favored to figure in the battle for the coveted men’s singles crown are Japan’s Yushi Tanaka and Jack Yu of Australia. The Japanese player ruled the VICTOR North Harbour International 2022 in October and had his most recent success in April after topping the Osaka International Challenge 2023. Yu, on the other hand, is a qualifier at the TOTAL Energies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals held in China last month.

In the women’s singles, Chinese-Taipei has two out of the Top 4 seeded players in the main draw. They are top seed Sung Shuo Yun and No. 3 Lin Hsiang Ti, while Korea’s Sim Yu Jin and Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang are seeded No. 2 and 4, respectively. All four are in the Top 50 rankings in the world. Another player to keep an eye on in the women’s singles is Oceania 2023 champion Tiffany Ho of Chinese-Taipei.

In the doubles, Chinese-Taipei players are the early favorites, too with Chang Ko-Chi and Po Li-Wei seeded first and looking to add another championship to their collection. The world No. 33 duo won the Victor North Harbour International 2022 and Bendigo International 2022 held in New Zealand. One of their toughest competitors are twins and world No. 41 Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee, also from Chinese-Taipei, and the pair came from an upset win over world No. 17 Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of England in the opening round of last week’s Perodua Malaysia Masters.

Chinese-Taipei has the most number of entries, having more than 60 players each in the Northern Marianas Open and Saipan International, while Japan and South Korea are also sending a big delegation. Malaysia, India, Egypt, Guam, Hungary, Belgium, Singapore, India, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Finland, United States, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, and the NMI are also represented in the double-header, which will award points to players that are aiming to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games next summer.

NMBA president Merlie Tolentino, meanwhile, said that member-federations and officials of Badminton World Federation and Badminton Oceania have been talking about the quality of players that have confirmed their participation in the NMI-hosted tournaments.

“This will be a great treat to people in the NMI who are used to watching top-level badminton games online, but now will get to see exciting games live and witness the kind of matches played at a very high standard,” Tolentino said.

Matches schedule
This Tuesday’s qualifying round games will run from 3pm to 4pm, while main draw games will follow suit and take place until 9pm. Day 2 (June 7) action will be from 10am to 9pm; Day 3 (June 8) is from 12pm to 9pm; and Day 4 (June 9) is from 1pm to 9pm. Semis matches on June 10 will be from 1pm to 9pm, while finals in the men’s and women’s singles and men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles are slated for Sunday, June 11, from 12pm to 5pm. The same schedule will be in effect for the Saipan International 2023. (PR)