No wins for local team in badminton tournament

The annual Macau Open Badminton is back until November 3, inviting approximately 280 players from 18 countries and regions to participate the tournament.

With a total cash prize of some MOP1.2 million, the event, which kicked off Tuesday, is a part of the HSBC BWF World Tour. Players can earn ranking points to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

The tournament – a World Tour Super 300 event – sees players compete in the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles categories.

Yesterday, the tournament kicked off with the women’s singles games. Canada’s Michelle Li defeated Hong Kong’s Leung Yuet Yee with a score of 21-17, 28-30 and 21-12.

The mixed doubles competition was held at the same time, with Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai winning against South Korea’s Wang Chan and Jeong Na Eun. They led the game 21-20 and 21-16 in the second set.

Meanwhile, five men and two women played for the Macau team in men’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

However, the local team lost the qualifying match of mixed doubles to Taipei with the scores 21-13 and 21-14. The local men’s doubles team also lost to Hong Kong with the scores 21-11 and 21-8.

The other local mixed doubles team lost to Korea with scores 21-10 and 21-9, while the women’s doubles team lost to Taipei, with the scores 21-15 and 21-12.

Macau’s representative for men’s singles lost to Thailand, 21-9 and 21-10.

Meanwhile, China’s Shi Yu Qi, who ranks sixth globally in men’s singles, and Korea’s Son Wan Ho, who ranks 21st, hope to make up for lost time and opportunities to qualify for the Olympics.

Shi is currently ranked No. 54 in the Race to Tokyo standings, while Son is yet to play a tournament since the qualifying period began on April 29, 2019.

Shi had previously withdrawn from the Korea Open due to an injury, while Son injured his Achilles tendon at a domestic tournament.

Held at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion, the Macau Open Badminton was first organized in 2006.

Players come from Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, India, Australia and the U.S.A., among others.

The next tournament will be held in Fuzhou, China, from November 5 to 10, followed by the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open. The tournaments have an aggregate total prize money of USD700,000 and USD400,000 respectively.

As cited on the BWF World Tour website, Macau will put forward no representatives in the upcoming tournament.