Wang Shixian eyes third title of the year

Top seed Wang Shixian will look to add the prestigious YONEX All England Open Championships, the second OSIM BWF World Superseries Premier Tournament, to the two titles she has won this year.

Shxian (right) claimed the first two titles in 2011 – the Super Series Finals in Taipei and the OSIM BWF World Superseries season opening Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur.
She also reached the final of the VICTOR Korea Open, which was the first OSIM BWF World Superseries Premier tournament, but lost to team mate Wang Yihan.
Shixian will start her campaign against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, whom she defeated in the semi-finals of the Korea Open last month.
The YONEX All England Championships is among five Premier events in the 12-leg OSIM BWF World Superseries and offers a total prize money of USD350,000.
Shixian, who won two Superseries titles last year (Korea and Swiss Opens), has shown grown stronger in 2011 and will be determined to add badminton's oldest tournament to her collection.
Looking to stop her is Yihan, who also captured two titles in 2010, winning back-to-back tournaments in Denmark and France, and has consistently been in the top four.
Yihan (left), however has a tough draw as defending champion and fourth seed Tine Baun of Denmark and India's Saina Nehwal, the fifth seed are in her half the draw, as is South Korea's Sung Ju Hyun.
The OSIM BWF World Superseries is a series of 12 tournaments, including five Premier competitions and will culminate with the season ending World Superseries Finals in December where the top eight players and pairs based on the Superseries Standings will qualify.
The OSIM BWF World Superseries, which has seen a drastic increase of prize money, kicked off with the Malaysia Open which offered USD400,000 in prize money despite its Superseries status and the Korea Open, a Premier event, which offered a record-breaking USD1.2 million in total prize money.
In the women’s doubles, Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Wen Hsing-Chien Yu Chin are the top seeds followed by Japan’s Satoko Suetsuna-Miyuki Maeda and China’s Yu Yang-Wang Xiaoli.
Cheng-Chien have only won one Superseries title and that was back in 2009 when they were winners in Korea. Since then, they have failed in the next 22 Superseries events and the odds are not stacked in their favour in Birmingham.
They VICTOR Korea Open champions Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang of China in the semi-finals - if the make it that far as awaiting them in the quarter-finals is Indonesian pair Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii who are seeded third.
The YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships begins at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on 8 March

courtesy of bwf

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