COPENHAGEN, Oct. 15 — The Denmark Open badminton tournament opened in Odense, central Denmark, on Tuesday, featuring a strong line-up of Chinese athletes.
The 400,000 U.S. dollar Super Series Premier event has attracted 271 players from 28 countries or regions.
The men’s singles event provides a star line-up of competitors, with Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei as the top seed, followed by China’s Chen Long and Du Pengyu.
The women’s singles features China’s Li Xuerui, London Olympics gold medalist, along with Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon and German’s Juliane Schenk.
India’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan are seeded first in men’s doubles, followed by Denmark’s Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen. Yun Cai and Fu Haifeng, who won men’s doubles gold at the London Olympics, both have new partners in the tournament. The new Chinese pairs are Cai Yun/ Chai Biao, Fu Haifeng/Hong Wei.
The Chinese duo of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, who were disqualified at the London Olympics for appearing to intentionally lose against a South Korean pair, are the top seeds in the women’s doubles.
Chinese pairs also dominate seeding in mixed doubles, with Zhang Nan/ Zhao Yunlei seeded first and Xu Chen/Ma Jin seeded second.
This year marks the Denmark Open’s 62nd edition. It takes place at the Odense Sports Park from Oct. 15-20.
