The first round of the All England Open Badminton Championships 2013 left many fans in disbelief. Last year’s Olympic gold medalist in the women’s singles, China’s Li Xue Rui, went out at the hands of South Korea’s Bae Youn Joo; Cai Yun/Fu Hai Feng, also gold medalists in London, withdrew from the match because of a back injury suffered by Cai;hot favorites to take the men’s doubles title, Lee Yong Dae/Ko Sung Hyun, were knocked out by Germany’s Ingo Kindervater/Johannes Schoettler. Fans were left asking “ Is this really the first round? How can all the seeds have been knocked out?” 

 

Ko Sung Hyun / Lee Yong Dae

 

South Korea’s women players performed well on day one. The top women’s singles players Sung Ji Hyun easily went through in straight games and will face Chinese Taipei’s Bai Hsiao Ma in the last 16. Bae Joun Yoo caused an upset by beating women’s singles top seed Li Xue Rui and she will face Japan’s Hirose Eriko in the next round. Fresh from their women’s doubles title win at last week’s German Open, Jung Kyung Eu/Kim Ha Neul took three games to overcome their opponents and in the last 16 will face Hong Kong’s Poon Lok Yan/ Tse Ying Suet

 

Tontowi Ahmad/Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia, a mixed doubles pair sponsored by VICTOR, overcame their opponents with ease in two games to go through to the next round. They were champions last year at this event and are sure to want to repeat their success this year.

 

Chou Tien Chen

 

In the first round, Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen surprised many when he recorded a fine victory by taking the scalp of No.4 seed China’s Du Peng Yu, in the process displaying physical strength and great willpower. After 64 minutes he took the match 21-17,10-21,21-18.

 

The All-England  Open Badminton Championships 2013 has reached round two. For the latest tournament news keep a close eye on the VICTOR official website: www.victorsport.com

 

( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )