Chen, Hidayat early duel seen

An early clash of the titans looms as world No. 2 Chen Hong of China and reigning Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat are tipped to meet sooner than expected in the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships firing off today at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

If they play true to form, Chen and Hidayat are fancied to hurdle their first three assignments before facing off in the quarterfinal round in what promises to be an explosive duel between two of the world’s finest players in the upper half of the 64-man main draw.

But the top three seeds in women’s singles – Xu Huaiwen of Germany, France’s Pi Hongyan and Malaysian Mew Choo Wong – pulled out on the eve of the $120,000 event, somehow taking the luster off their side of the championship.

Xu, the world No. 5, sustained an injury while playing in last week’s China Masters while Pi, the world No. 6 who arrived Sunday with the French team, was running a fever. The third-seeded and No. 11 Wong also cited injury for withdrawing from the tournament sponsored by Bingo Bonanza Corp. for the second straight year.

Thus, Eriko Hirose of Japan, Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip and Dane Tine Rasmussen will take the top three seedings and three additional slots to be disputed in the qualifier being held at presstime.

The cast in the men’s side, however, remains intact.

Hidayat, a six-time Indonesian Open champion who also won the gold medal in the Asian Games last year, beat Chen the last time they clashed for the men’s singles title in the Asian Championships in Malaysia last April, giving the talented 25-year-old Indon the momentum if ever they get to meet in the last 8.

“I have a good chance to make it to the finals. But first, I need to hurdle Chen Hong in the quarterfinals,” said Hidayat during the launching of the event at the Holiday Inn Galleria yesterday.

Chen, a two-time All England and China Open winner who defeated Hidayat for the first time in the quarterfinal round of last year’s World Championships, is the top seed in the talent-laden field that also features four of the world’s top 10 players, including Hidayat, now at No. 10.

“I come here to enjoy and have a good game and I’m looking forward to playing him (Hidayat),” said Chen, through an interpreter.

Malaysian world No. 3 Lee Chong Wei gets the No. 2 seeding and is expected to face stiff opposition in the lower bracket, including against No. 11 Andrew Smith of England, who he could meet in the third round in a battle for a quarterfinal seat.

World No. 6 Bao Chunlai is also fancied to breeze through the first three rounds and into the quarters in the lower half of the draw, so does world No. 8 Kenneth Jonassen, who is expected to ram into defending champion Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in the quarterfinal round in the upper bracket.

Meanwhile, tickets to the five-day event are now on sale at Ticketworld at the National Book Store outlets. Tickets are pegged at P300, P200, P150, P100 and P50 in the eliminations to quarterfinal stages. Tickets in the semis and finals are priced at P500, P400, P300, P200 and P50.

The event, organized by IMG and held under the auspices of the Philippine Badminton Association, will be shown live on Solar Sports and RPN-9 beginning with the semifinal round on July 21 and the finals on July 22.

Other players to watch in the ladies singles are Li Li of Singapore and defending champion Saina Nehwal of India, who stunned Xu in the semis last year en route to the championship.

The RP pair of sisters Raquel and Rachel Guerrero gains a ticket in the main draw of the women’s doubles but they will have their hands full against Sook Chin Chong and Amelia Anselly in the first round. But if they get past the Malaysian tandem, the Guerreros are lined up to face Yu and Wen in the second round.

The brother-sister tandem of Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion takes on the Portuguese pair of Filipa Lamy and Alexandre Paixao as the RP bets open their bid in the mixed doubles event in the lower half of the 32-team draw, where they settled for runner-up honors after losing to Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthangkam in last year’s finale.

But the Thais begged off to defend the crown although the Indons are set to dominate the event by bringing in the top seeded Indons Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto and the No. 2 tandem of Vita Marissa and Flandy Limpele.

The RP Open is backed by Victor, exclusively distributed by Pcome Industrial Sales, Inc., Snickers, The Philippine Star, Solar Sports (official broadcaster), Holiday Inn Galleria Manila and The Richmonde (official hotels).