Singapore Open kicks off with several withdrawls
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E-mail Xinhua, June 18, 2013
The Li-Ning Singapore Open kicked off on Tuesday, with several of the top players absent in the men's singles event.
The absentees include 2010 champion and Olympic bronze medalist Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in the men's singles.
Previously, China's Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan, who had stayed away from the court in the months after the London Olympics and started playing only recently, decided to pull out from the Singapore Open, citing injuries suffered during April's Badminton Asia Championships.
Lee Chong Wei, the current world No. 1, decided not to compete in the Singapore Open even earlier.
China's Chen Long, the world No. 2, will be absent, too.
The top seed will be his teammate Du Pengyu. Hu Yun, from Hong Kong, China, will be the second seed, followed by defending champion Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.
Most of the top players will be competing in the women's singles event, including China's world No. 1 Li Xuerui, world No. 4 Wang Yihan and world No. 8 Wang Shixian. Joining them will be India's world No. 2 Saina Nehwal.
The tournament will run for six days till Sunday.
The Singapore Open was also hit by a string of withdrawals last year, when it took place after the qualifying window to the Olympics had closed and just a month before the London Olympics.
Bobby Lee, chief executive officer of the Singapore Badminton Association, said the withdrawals this time might be attributable to the players' fatigue and injuries as the Superseries-level tournament came just a week after the Indonesia Open, a Superseries Premier event.
It is also the last Superseries event before the World Championships in Guangzhou from Aug. 5-11.
"The world championships is a month's time away so some players might think they need to prepare well for that and choose not to play here," said Nehwal.
The event will be moved to April starting from next year, making closer to the India Open, which is another Superseries event.
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