German Open Grand Prix Draw

German Open will be the first European badminton tournament in 2009 season. It is going to start in February 24-March 9, 2009.

In the draw for the German Open released yesterday, Korean mixed doubles Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung become the top seed players.

They will not find difficult opponents to the road into final, because compatriot Han Sang-hoon/Hwang Yu-mi and Chinese Xu Chen/Zhao Yunlei are in the bottom half.

In the men's singles, Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann has avoided Bao Chunlai and must be through to the semi-finals. Choong Hann could find himself up against Chinese junior Gong Weijie if he makes the last four.

Korean men's doubles player Lee Yong-dae, who used to be Jung Jae-sung's partner and now the world number one, pairing with Jung, will play with his new partner Shin Baek-choel. This newly-formed doubles pair will be able to show their potential. They are likely to face second-seeded Chris Adcock and Robert Blair.

In the women's doubles, Korea has two pairs who became the two top seeds. They are Lee Hyo-jung/Lee Kyung-won and Ha Jung-eun/Kim Min-jung.

First round selected match:

Men's singles
1-Bao Chunlai (CHN) vs. Yuhan Tan (BEL)
3-Wong Choong Hann (MAS) vs. Mattias Wigardt (SWE)
5-Andrew Smith (ENG) vs. David Snider (BEL)

Women's singles
1-Zhu Lin (CHN) vs. Olga Konon (POL)
2-Xu Huaiwen (GER) vs. Linda Zechiri (BUL)
3-Petya Nedeltcheva (BUL) vs. Larisa Griga (UKR)

Men's doubles
5-Lee Yong-dae/Shin Baek Chool (KOR) vs. Juergen Koch/Peter Zauner (AUT)
7-Hwang Ji-man/Han Sang-hoon (KOR) vs. Kenichi Hayakawa/Kenta Kazuno (JPN)
1-Richard Eidestedt/Andrew Ellis (ENG) vs. Adam Cwalina/Wojchiech Szkudlarczyk (POL)

Women's doubles
1-Lee Hyo-jung/Lee Kyung-won (KOR) vs. Sarah Bok/Gabrielle White (ENG)
2-Ha Jung-eun/Kim Min-jung (KOR) vs. Laura Choinet/Weny Rahmawati (FRA)
3-Cheng Shu/Zhao Yunlei (CHN) vs. Huang Bing/Chloe Magee (IRL)

Mixed doubles
1-Lee Yong-dae/Lee Hyo-jung (KOR) vs. Wouter Claes/Nathalie Deschamps (BEL)
2-Rasmus Bonde/Helle Nielsen (DEN) vs. Mohd. Razif Abdul Latif/Woon Khe Wei (MAS)
3-David Lindley/Suzzane Rayapphan (ENG) vs. Flandy Limpele (INA)/Anastasia Russkikh (RUS)