Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Semifinal Predictions

An off color Saina Nehwal lost in the quarterfinals to Wang Xin of China. Saina didn't look comfortable at all and surrendered rather meekly. An unfortunate result for India as Saina was looking good till this match and a lot was expected of her.

Anyway, lets move on. Here are my predictions for the Semifinals today -

Xin WANG [3] - Yihan WANG [2]

Chong Wei LEE [1] - Jin CHEN [6]

Shao Chieh CHENG [7] - Juliane SCHENK [9]

Qing TIAN/Yunlei ZHAO [5] - Jwala GUTTA/Ashwini PONNAPPA

Peter Hoeg GADE [3] - Dan LIN [2]

Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Day 4 update and Day 5 predictions

100% on my prediction made here for a second day running!

Today's predictions -

Saina NEHWAL [6] - Xin WANG [3]
Haven't seen Wang play yet as none of her matches were on the "show" court. Saina has been in exquisite touch and I think should be able to pull this one off too.

Vita MARISSA/Nadya MELATI - Jwala GUTTA/Ashwini PONNAPPA
And the dream run for the womens doubles pair continues! I tip Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa to win this encounter as well.

Some other predictions -

Hongyan PI - Yihan WANG [2]
I think Pi Hongyan will pull this one off! Lets see.

Juliane SCHENK [9] - Tine BAUN [5]
I think this is going to be a close affair. Probably the match to watch out for. Will be a long and close match. Again both have not played on the "show" court so its tough to choose the winner. I will probably go with Juliane though.

Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Day 4 predictions

My predictions for India's matches today at the Yonex BWF World Championships 2011.

Pui Yin YIP [14] - Saina NEHWAL [6]
Saina showed get form yesterday when she dispatched Chloe Magee from Ireland in quick time. I foresee another 2 game demolition of Pui Yin YIP.

Diju VALIYAVEETIL/Jwala GUTTA [16] - Joachim FISCHER NIELSEN/Christinna PEDERSEN [5]
Haven't seen Diju/Jwala playing since their Round 1 match was not on the "show" court so its a difficult choice and more of a guess. Diju has been in rehab since his back surgery and it will all depend on his fitness. I will go with the Danes on this one, but I really want us to win this!

Jin CHEN [6] - Ajay JAYARAM
Ajay has had a fantastic run in this tournament and will get some good ranking points but I think this is the end of the road for him in this tournament. Jin Chen is just too powerful. It will be great if Ajay can get a game off Jin.

Lok Yan POON [11]/Ying Suet TSE - Jwala GUTTA/Ashwini PONNAPPA
Another upset from the womens doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. They should beat the 11th seeds in 2 games.

Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Day 3 update

100% on my predictions for Day 3 here, though my heart goes out to Parupalli Kashyap who lost leading 20-15 in the 3rd game! Ouch!!

Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta pull off the biggest upset of the tournament so far beating the 2nd seeds in straight games!

Stay tuned for Day 4 predictions!

Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Day 3 predictions

India's match-up's today -

• Chloe MAGEE - Saina NEHWAL [6] --> Saina NEHWAL in 2 games
• P KASHYAP - Tien Minh NGUYEN [7] --> Tien Minh NGUYEN in 3 games
• Jwala GUTTA/Ashwini PONNAPPA - Wen Hsing CHENG/Yu Chin CHIEN [2] --> Jwala GUTTA/Ashwini PONNAPPA in 3 games
• Jien Guo ONG/Sook Chin CHONG - Diju VALIYAVEETIL/Jwala GUTTA [16] --> Diju VALIYAVEETIL/Jwala GUTTA in 2 games
• Ajay JAYARAM - Vladimir IVANOV --> Ajay JAYARAM in 3 games

I am going with one upset today - from Jwala GUTTA/Ashwini PONNAPPA - looks very difficult for them to pull this off but let's see!

Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Day 2 update

Not a lot of Indian's in the fray today.

Parupalli Kashyap didn't do himself much good by taking almost an hour to beat Dieter Domke in a Round 1 match. He now faces Tien Minh Nguyen early tomorrow and has little time to recover. It will be a good match to win for him, although I doubt he will.

Ajay Jayaram is much better placed. He had a day off today and faces Vladimir Ivanov tomorrow. It will be tough but I think he has a good chance of making it to Round 3 by winning this Round 2 encounter.

The mens doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas bowed out of the championship after a defeat in Round 2 as predicted by me here.

Ofcourse, the star of the day was Carolina Marin who beat 15th seed Eriko Hirose in a marathon match lasting over an hour.

Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - Day 1 update

A very pleasing day for India.

Ajay Jayaram upset the 15th seed Kenichi Tago. He was out of the blocks fast and wrapped the match up in 2 games in 40 mins. Kenichi started slow and seemed lethargic but all credit to Ajay for keeping him under pressure for most of the game. Towards the end of game 2 it looked like Kenichi was just getting into rhythm but Ajay held on, albeit nervously, to clinch a fantastic win.

That set the tone for the Indians. In the next match, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa made quick work of the American pair in 23 mins.

The next match was experience and suave versus youth and power. It took 3 games and all of 53 mins for Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas to overcome their opponents. They lost the first game in quick time at 9 but then rebounded really well to take the next two with well thought out tactics and strategy.

The day however belonged to Kevin Cordon from Guatemala who upset the 5th seed Chinese Chen Long. It was an amazing match and Kevin showed great heart in staying in the match and wrapping it up 21-19 8-21 27-25 in 1 hr and 15 mins. One of the best matches I have seen in a long time! Go Kevin!

YONEX BWF World Badminton Championships - India's chances

The World Badminton Championships will be held in London between 8-Aug-11 to 14-Aug-11.

Saina Nehwal has been seeded 6th. Here are my predictions for her possible opponents in the rounds.

Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 - Adrianti Firdasari (should win this)
Round 3 - Yip Pui Yin (14th seed) (should win this)
Quarterfinals - Wang Xin (3rd seed) (tough, but possible - should try to close it in 2 games. Any more and she will be playing to Wang's strength)
Semifinals - Wang Yihan (2nd seed) (will depend on fitness and length of earlier matches)
Finals - Wang Shixian (Top seed) (will depend on fitness and length of earlier matches)

Here is Parupalli Kashyap's draw. I think it will be great if he can make it out of Round 2. His possible opponents.

Round 1 - Dieter Domke (should win this)
Round 2 - Tien Minh Nguyen (7th seed) (tough)
Round 3 - Boonsak Ponsana (10th seed) (very tough)
Quarterfinals - Peter Hoeg Gade (3rd seed) (impossible! lets stop here!)

In the Mens doubles Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also have a tough draw and they would do great to cross Round 2.

In the Womens doubles Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa would create waves in Badminton circles if they can cross Round 2 where they unfortunately face the 2nd seeds.

In the mixed doubles 16th seeds Diju Valiyaveetil and Jwala Gutta should do well to cross Round 3 where they meet the 5th seeds.

Fastest racquet sport?

Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world. A shuttlecock can travel up to 200 mph. Fu Haifeng of China set the official record of the fastest badminton shuttlecock speed at about 206 mph. That's an incredible 92.1 m/s or 332 km/h.

So a badminton shuttlecock can travel faster than a Eurostar train at its maximum in-service speed of 83.3 m/s (186.4 mph).

Comparison with other sports -

• Cricket - Fastest ball clocked at 161 km/h
• Ice Hockey - Fastest hockey puck clocked at 191.5 km/h
• Tennis - Fastest serve clocked at 251 km/h