Yonex Australia Open 2012 Badminton Open Championships Info and Highlights
The Yonex Australia Open Badminton Championships will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, from 3-8 April 2012.
This year, the Championships celebrates its second anniversary of becoming a Grand Prix Gold tournament.
Similar to last year, professional shuttlers from around the globe will battle for a share of the USD $120,000 pool of prize money.
What’s in it for you at the Australia Badminton Open this year?
This year is extra special for Australian fans! Some of the world’s best players will be competing for the title in Sydney.
Apart from the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, big tournaments were never held in Australia.
Over the years, top stars were never had a strong enough reason to come to Australia to for competitions.
This year will be different! The Australian Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament will offer precious BWF ranking points to players. Getting these points will be vital to help them qualify for the Olympic Games* by 3rd of May.
This is the LAST Grand Prix Gold event in the Olympic Games qualifying period.
* Players will need to have the highest BWF ranking points on 3 May 2012 in their own country to qualify for the London Olympics 2012.
Preliminary Highlights of the Yonex Australia Open 2012
This time round, players will be fighting their hearts out to collect ranking points!
Men’s Singles
Former World Champion Chen Jin will be having a shot at the Australian Open title.
He is currently ranked third in his country, behind Lin Dan and Chen Long. According to BWF, each country can only send a MAXIMUM of 2 players. However, a country is allowed to send THREE players if their players are ranked in the top 4.
China can send three players if Chen Jin, being World No. 5, can secure a top 4 rank.
As you can see, Chen Jin will obviously take this competition seriously.
Taufik Hidayat will be in Australia for the second time. His first being his visit in 2000 during the Sydney Olympic Games.
As bigger stars will be here in 2012, defending champion Sho Sasaki will be looking to defend his 2011 title.
The best badminton singles players from Korea are also ready to roll out to win something in Sydney.
Defence king and left-hander, Lee Hyun Il, along with country mate Shon Wan Ho will be in Australia as well.
Women’s Singles
Young generation women’s singles superstars, Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk and Inthanon Ratchanok from Thailand will face each other again.
These 3 teenage badminton stars were present in 2011 but neither won the championship. Only Porntip made it to the final last year.
Besides them, world no.4 from China, Li Xuerui is going to make her first appearance at Sydney.
India’s young talent, Saina Nehwal will also be joining the excitement this year. Saina has won the recent Swiss Open 2012 (also a Grand Prix Gold tournament). She is aiming for another one at the Australian event.
Men’s Doubles
In men’s doubles, we have Chai Biao/Guo Zheng Dong, world no.5 from China.
This will be their very first visit.
All time favourites Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan are also participating in the competition.
With these 2 coming, expect high paced games at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.
There is also Fang Chieh Min/Lee Sheng Mu from Chinese Taipei. This pair has been performing exceptionally well this year.
There will be a high team spirit for the Chinese Taipei team as the WHOLE badminton team from Taiwan will be present at the Australian Open. This is an added advantage for Fang and Lee.
Women Doubles
Defending champions Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito from Japan will be present.
Top Malaysian pair Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty were the runner ups last year. They will be eyeing the finals again.
Mixed Doubles
The top performers this year, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir (world ranked no.3) are looking forward to their first Australian title. The Indonesian pair has been performing very well this year and have already won 2 European titles.
On top of that, England is sending 2 of their best mixed doubles pair, Nathan Robertson/Jenny Wallwork and 2011 World Championships runner up, Chris Adcock/Imogen Bankier.
Defending champions from Thailand, Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul will have a hard time maintaining their title because the competition this year has increased to a much higher level.
Ticket Information
For more information on the tickets, visit this page.
Don’t forget to check out the event program. Over there, you’ll find detailed information on the start times, location, previous winners and defending champions, TV Coverage and MORE!