Yonex Australia Open 2011 Event Program

Update: It was an exciting event and thanks to all who joined us at the Yonex Australia Open 2011. Catch our previous match wrap ups of the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Finals.

If you want to have more information on the 2012 event, kindly visit http://www.australianbadmintonopen.com.au

David &amp Gerard
www.how-to-play-badminton.com

Start Times
Location
Preview on some Elite Players
Preliminary Highlights and Interesting Facts
Prize Money and Championships
Previous Winners
Sponsors and Supporters

Start Times

The tournament will run from 5-10 April 2011 (Tuesday – Sunday). The event schedule is:

Tuesday: Qualifying rounds (starts at 8:30am)
Wednesday: First Round (starts at 9am)
Thursday: Second Round (starts at 9am)
Friday: Quarter Finals (starts at 5:30pm)
Saturday: Semi Finals (starts at 3pm)
Sunday: FINALS (starts at 3pm)

Badminton fans should not miss the opportunity to watch the quarter finals on the Friday. The organisers have made the event convenient for working people as well. Why not spend your Friday night watching LIVE badminton tournament, between the top players in the world.

Location

The Yonex Australia Open 2011 will be held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC).

Preview on Some Elite Players

This year’s Yonex Australia Open event is exceptional. A number of world class badminton players will be competing for the title.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro who has earned a degree of respect along the years, stand a good chance to win the championships this year. From Indonesia, the son of all time badminton legend Icuk Sugiarto, Tommy Sugiarto, will also be competing in the tournament.

2 time Commonwealth Games GOLD medallist and 2003 All England Winner Mohd Hafiz Hashim (MAS) will also compete for the Grand Prix Gold title this year.

Another Commonwealth Games GOLD medallist and former World No.2 Wong Choong Hann from Malaysia will also make his stand in this tournament. This elite player was the apprentice of all time badminton legend Han Jian. Choong Hann was an all time great in the late 90’s and early 2000. With his current age, he should be considered a retired player. However, he won the GOLD in the 2006 Commonwealth Games RIGHT HERE IN MELBOURNE. Can he win a tournament here again this year?

Besides that, current world no.4 Boonsak Ponsana from Thailand is expected to reach the finals. Current Women World Champion Wang Lin is also here to compete for the Australian title. Not to mention, last year’s defending champion Nguyen Tien Minh will be ready to defend his Australian title!

Preliminary Highlights and Interesting Facts

This year’s Australia Open is upgraded to a higher level tournament. A number of world class players will be competing in Melbourne Australia for the GP Gold title.

In the First Round (Wednesday 9 April), the 2010 defending champion will be competing against the 2010 runner-up, Yogendran Krishnan. These 2 players who had made their ways to the finals last year, will have to play against each other at the first round of this season!

One of them will get eliminated in the first round, who will it be? The roadmap to the champion’s title this year will be slightly difficult for either of them because players like Boonsak Ponsana, Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Wong Choong Hann are definitely strong contenders.

The current Badminton World Champion for WS, Wang Lin, will also make her stand in the Yonex Australia Open this year. Considering that she had just recovered from a knee injury where she broke a ligament during the China Masters 2010, it is unsure whether we will be able to witness her at her best, but she might surprise us, only time will tell.

Since Wang Lin took a long break due to her knee injury, her BWF world ranking has also experienced a significant fall. Therefore, she will be required to play at the qualifying rounds on Tuesday (5th April) against Cheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei.

It will be a tough road for Wang Lin even if she wins the qualifying round because she will be expected to face Liu Xin (currently highest BWF world ranking player in this event) of China on Thursday (7th April).

Prize Money and Championships

This year, the Yonex Australia Open is upgraded to a higher level, the Grand Prix GOLD. More prize money is sponsored to this year’s tournament compared to the previous years. Fortunately, this marks the increased popularity of badminton in Australia.

The total prize money is USD120,000.

This amount will be divided among the 5 disciplines (MS, WS, MD, WD and XD) in accordance to official BWF regulations.

Previous Winners (2010 Grand Prix) – 1st and 2nd places

Men Singles
1. Nguyen Tien Minh (Vietnam)
2. Yogendran Krishnan (MAS)

Men Doubles
1. Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN)
2. Kang Woo Kyum/Park Tae Sang (KOR)

Women Singles
1. Seo Yoon Hee (KOR)
2. Minatsu Mitani (JPN)

Women Doubles
1. Kim Min Seo/Lee Kyung Won (KOR)
2. Kang Hae Won/Seo Yoon Hee (KOR)

Mixed Doubles
1. Cho Gun Woo/Kim Min Seo (KOR)
2. Hajime Komiyama/Sayuri Asahara (JPN)

Sponsors and Supporters

Main Sponsor:
Yonex

Other sponsors:
State Government of Victoria

Partners:
Australian Sports Commission, Novotel Melbourne

Organised by:
Badminton Victoria, Badminton Australia

Sanctioned by:
Badminton World Federation (BWF), Badminton Oceania.

Venue:
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC)

For ticket bookings, call +61 3 9686 4777 or fax +61 3 9686 6999.

Pictures from the event venue

The pictures below show the venue setup for the Australian Open 2011. Some national teams were training on the event grounds.