Sydney: The world’s top badminton players assembled in Sydney this week as the 2015 Australian Open has kicked off under sunny blue skies at Australia on Tuesday.
In the men’s game, “Super Dan” Lin Dan is amongst the favorites in to defend his title after his astonishing return to form at the 2014 Australian Open to down Indonesian shuttler 22-24, 21-16, 21-7 for his first World Superseries title in over two years (After winning second consecutive title in London Olympics, Lin took a long break and returned to compete actively at international badminton tournaments early 2014).
In the women’s singles, the red-hot Saina Nehwal of India will keep her guard up when she begins her campaign at the $750,000 Australian Open badminton which gets under way with the qualifiers in Sydney on Tuesday. Saina beat Spaniard Carolina Marin at last year’s Australian Open to clinch her first Super Series crown in 20 months, after coming out on top in the Denmark Open in October 2012.
World number one men’s pair Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong also arrived in Sydney in good spirits. However, the duo faces tough road to their second consecutive men’s doubles title as big threats such as Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia or possibly Tan Boon Heong/Koo Kien Keat of Malaysia are awaiting for the South Koreans.
