2009 has been relatively quiet for the American duo, who were seeded 13th at Anaheim and have come into this year’s World Championship’s as rank outsiders.  They announced their arrival in Hyderabad in style by disposing of another veteran doubles duo, Choong Tan Fook / Lee Wan Wah from Malaysia, in a closely fought match which they bagged 23-21 in the rubber game.  It was a lesson in badminton they offered to their next round opponents from Japan Ikeda/Sakamoto as Bach & Gunawan (photo) marched on with a 21-10, 21-9 comfortable outing.

Their supremacy over the 6th-seeded Danes in the round of 16 today was testament to their resolve as they marched into the quarter-final stage, winning 21-18, 21-18 in straight games.  Displaying superb all-round play and versatile badminton trademark of their style of play, the American’s dominated the forecourt and never allowed Boe & Mogensen to indulge in the aggressive attacking style and this evidently unsettled the Danes.

Given the fact that Gunawan partners Mathias Boe in the Danish league, the ability of the Americans to nullify this insider’s knowledge of their game was added credit to their performance today.

The road ahead is steeper for Tony and Howard as they now go on to draw swords against the # 2 seeds and title favourites Koo Kien Keat / Tan Boon Heong in the quarter-finals on Friday in what promises to be another swashbuckling encounter.

The Lees on Course for Double Crown

Korea may not have much to cheer from the performance of their singles players but their doubles pairs have continued their excellent form in the doubles version.  Lee Yong Dae and partner Lee Hyo Jung are top seeds in the mixed doubles draw and the Olympic Gold medallists have to overcome the Chinese pair of Xie Zhongbo & Yawen Zhang in the first match on court 2 tomorrow.


In his second match of the day, the young Korean Lee Yong Dae along with his partner in men’s doubles Jung Jae Sung (photo), the 4th seeds, will be favourites when they meet the unseeded Chinese team of Guo Zhendong & Xu Chen in the men’s doubles quaterfinals.  However, this Chinese pair are no pushovers and won the last encounter between these two pairs, in Singapore in June.  Guo Zhendong also beat the Koreans the last time either pair was in India and today, his partner Xu will be looking for payback for his round of 16 loss to Lee in the mixed doubles.

The ever-smiling, humble giant Lee Hyo Jung along with her feisty partner Lee Kyung Won will have the task of overcoming the in-form Chinese pairing of Ma Jin / Wang Xiaoli (photo).  The 3rd seeded Koreans will need to bring their A game to court to wreak some payback on the Asian championships for their embarrassing defeat on home soil in April.

Standing in the way of the Koreans will be several formidable contenders.  Ifrst of all, in men’s doubles, there is the 2nd seeded Malaysian duo of Koo Kien Keat / Tan Boon Heong who play Tony Gunawan & Howard Bach.  The toughest pair for the Koreans is always the 5th-seeded Chinese force of Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng.  The 2006 champions will look to beat another Korean duo of Han/Shin after steam-rolling over Chinese Taipei’s Fang/Lee in the round of 16.  Finally, dark horses and 8th-seeded Malaysians Abdul Latif/Tazari made sure that, for only the second time this decade, there will be no pair representing Indonesia in the men’s doubles final.

In women's doubles, the Japanese girls Maeda & Suetsuna upset #1 seeds Chin Eei Hui / Wong Pei Tty (photo) in three games and are looking strong.   China has placed an impressive 4 duos in the quarter-finals.  Normally the most feared, #5 seeds Du Jing / Yu Yang had a brief hiccup in their first game on Thursday against Indonesia’s Maheswari and Polii and thus are the only Chinese pair that has even come close to dropping a game so far.

In mixed doubles, Ma Jin & Zheng Bo have to first surpass the Danish team of Thomas Laybourn / Kamilla Rytter Juhl in the quarter-finals tomorrow, whilst the Indonesian # 2 seeds Nova Widianto & Liliyana Natsir will face not only their opponents but the huge home crowd which we be out in support of the 8th seeds Diju V & Jwala Gutta, (photo) who were impressive in their victory over the Polish pair today.


For complete results from Day 4 of the 2009 Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships, please CLICK HERE

For live, local coverage from Hyderabad, follow the World Championships on Badzine India

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