WILSON BADMINTON SWISS OPEN 2010.

Thank you for staying tuned in wth us!

The 20th Swiss Open has ended a few minutes ago !
We have seen a lot of matches the past week, we have been amazed of the fantastic play from these World Class Badminton Players.
In all, we have all enjoyed the wonderful sport of badminton in a nice atmosphere here in St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.

We have tried to feed you with little stories, sometimes with a twist and a twinkle in the eyes and hope you have enoyed it!
We say 'Good bye and Thank you for watching' !

A most surprising Men's Doubles win!

The unseeded Korean Men's Doubles pair Sung Hyun Ko/Yeon Seong Yoo, followed in the footsteps of their compatriots in the Mixed Doubles who won earlier today and secured the second 2010 Wilson Badminton Swiss Open win for Korea in the most spectacular way as the number 1 seed of the event Koo Kien Keat/Tan boon Heong, MAS, were beaten in straight games.
The Koreans played very wisely, beating the Malaysians at their own game. Tan/Koo often toy with their opponents but obviously not today. In most of the sdecond game Tan/Koo seemed discouraged while the Ko/Yoo seemed to be on Cloud 9!

Tian/Yu to take the Women's Doubles title

China took the third possible title in the 2010 Wilson Badminton Swiss Open, as the seeded 7 pair Tian Qing/Yu Yang, CHN, made it to the top as they in a entertaining match were up against a Japanese pair, seeded 5 at the event, Miyuki Maeda/Satoko Suetsuna.
This match lived up to the previous 3 of today, being a very entertaining affair, with good play. And they were appropriately rewarded by the very keen crowd in the St. Jakobshalle!

Chen Jin takes Men's Singles title in Basel

In was a three-gamer, but a nice one of the kind..... Number 3 seed Chen Jin, CHN, looked a long time to be the one to be the runner-up at this event as he was taken on by his compatriot Chen Long. Jin was losing the first game 12-21, won the second game 21-15, and in the third game he upped his play in the end half of the game and won 21-17.
It was an eyecatching affair, with two tall Chinese almost able to cover the whole court in one just by holding out their arms...... they certainly gave the spectators their money's worth!

Shixian Wang a worthy winner

Shixian Wang, CHN, number 6 seed here at 2010 WBSO, won in straight games against her compatriot Yanjiao Jiang, seeded 2.
The 20 year old Chinese played really well all the way today although she was followed closely through the second game. She only needed one game point before she with a scream and a BIG SMILE was the winner of the 2010 WBSO!

Please - can I say something?!?

One of the more annoying tasks of the Announcers is to ask the spectators NOT to use flash during the game as it disturbs the players - and the afore mentioned Bert van Hoorenbeck was just about to announce the score as Bettina Schoeller opened the mic at Match Control table and - once again - told the audience to control their flashing urges! Bert kept his mouth shot (does not happen often, sorry Bert!) as Bettina spoke and just send a smile escorted by a 'look' over to Bettina - laugh all around! 

Good tone between Court Officials !

They are all there because of the love af the sport - The Umpire, Service  Judge, and Linejudges! ANd a lot of them have been with this 'cirkus' fr quite a number of years and know each other very well!
To have a good connection between them is most important! In the Mixed Doubles final Umpire was Bert van Hoorenbeck prior the the match taked to his Linejudges: "I will not overrule anybody - except Robin (Metson)...." Great laughter and then some other more practical remarks fell..... But it gives you an idea that the tone is friendly and yet ther is a great seriousness and pride in being a court official!

Oh - as it happened, Bert DID overrule a Linejudge once in the match - and it was NOT Robin !

Very good Mixed Doubles final!

Whether it was because of their Walkover yesterday or not fact is, that Lee Dae Yong/Lee Hyun Young won in straight games over their compatriots Shin Baek Cheol/Yoo Hyun Young 21-14, 21-18.

It was a great match, very vivid throughout! High paced, and quite entertaining!
Lee/Lee played with great confidence from the beginning of the match, did not give anything free to their opponents, especially in the first game!
In the first half of the second game, Shin/Yoo, got to attack much more and for a while that seemed to shake Lee/Lee a bit. Especially Lee Hyo Jung made some mistakes. But - from being down 9-16, Lee/Lee took 7 points in a row and never let go!

See red, get yellow !

Some people shake their heads, tell themselves all is ok, even (or especially) when things do not exactly go their way. Whether they are at work, at home, dealing with illnesses or - sports!
Some people just do no take it very well at all if everything is not going their way -you know:l "it's my way or no way".
In this sport - badminton - at this place - WBSO in Basel - the Semifinals saw 4 (four) yellow cards.... given when some kind of misconduct of behavor/Play has occurred!

1 card was given to a Chinese Men's Singles player for failing to start playing when told by the Umpire...... 3 was given to Danish players for hammering their rackets down onto court and throwing it far away respectively.

It would be nice to se people behaving well on court.... makes a terible wrong impression if they don't..... Emotions should absoltely be allowed but the way of performing it should be civilized...!

Explosions of emotions !

After his sensational win over Lin Dan in yesterday's quarterfinal, 5th seed Peter Gade faced another brick in the Chinese Wall when he was up against 8th seed Long Chen, CHN.
It was a match of the finest technical delicacies, from both sides, and the tension in the match was quite noticeable to everyone in St. Jakobshalle.
Througout the main part of the first game Gade was in the lead, slowly but surely Chen crawled back into the game and snatched the first game 22-20.
In the second game Gade did not seem to be in quite the same buzzing mood as he was in yesterday's match but still played excellent.
Halfway into the game Gade did not agree with a linecalling on the backline and threw his racket down on court.... the taxation of that was a yellow card given by the Umpire.
The yellow card had the so called 'McEnroe effect' on Gade for a while (John McEnroe, US tennislayer famous for his 'mild' temper on court) and he performed some really good rallies immediately afterwards .... Unfortunately for the Dane that did not last too long... but the drama was not yet over.  Chen demonstrated he was unhappy with not getting someone on court to mop the sweat off and did not respond as the Umpire repeatedly told him to play... that trickered the Umpires fingers to reach down in his pocket for the yellow card for the second time in the match.....
There was not much more left in Gade but the drama hit an all time high on what turned out to be he last shuttle....... Chen hit to the backline - Gade jumped to the side as he saw the shuttle out by his movement made the linejudge unable to see if the shuttle was in or out..... the Umpire then ruled "game" and Chen was the winner of the second game too - 21-17.

Tomorrows Men's Singles final will be an all Chinese matter between Chen Long and Chen Jin.

Careful where you park!

Lawrence Chew, Director in Swiss Badminton, just arrived at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel with his big car to pick up his family when a driver  from the WBSO driver team, having not realised it was not an official bus, rushed to the car, quickly opened te car door - stufed some players in and said to Lawrence "Bring them to Zürich, now"   Polite as Lawrence is, he said "ok"........

Oh by the way - Lawrance managed to squeeze his family in the car too....

'Locals' in clash....

?!?! The 7th seeded Chinese Qing Tian/Yu Yang, CHN, won in straght games 21-12, 21-15 over 3rd seeds Wen Hsing Chen/Yu Chin Chien, TPE.

This Women's Doubles was more interesting than the first one of the day. It sowed two parties wanting to play badminton, showing energy on court and trying to outsmart each other with a variety of strokes.

Malaysia boleh (go on Malaysia)!

The number one seeds Koo Kean Kiet/Tan Boon Heong, MAS, was cheered by Team mates when they beated 4th seeds Danes Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen, DEN, in straight games 21-13, 28-26.

There is never a dull moment in a DEN-MAS clash and today was no exception. Although not quite as colourful as their Malaysian opponents Boe/Mogensen performed a fantastic comeback in the second game and had numerous opportunities to make it into a 3-game match! But they was put under tremendous pressure from Koo/Tan and had to give in at 28-26.... Great relief with the Malaysians and even more great frustration wit the Danes... Especially Mathias Boe, who threw his racket high in the air - direction: the audience, only just missed a sponsored car on display....

Ella out...!

She has almost become the Darling of the event amongst the audience due to her 'heroic' matches throughout this week! She is Ella Diehl, representing Russia, and in today's Semifinal she was up against number  seed Shixian Wang, CHN.
Diehl try to play her usual play, calm, well-coordinated, with patience but her opponent did not quite buy that idea and played with great energy stopping Diehl. That of course pleased the Chinese girl and she very loudly showed her feelings - that is naturally ok but not when it is performed with loud screams and fists towards the opponent, especially when the opponent has made a mistake. Not very nice.

"It was our own fault...."

Kamilla Rytter Juhl was quite aware of who was to blame for the Danish Mixed Doubles' exit in today's Semifinal: "It was our own fault" and Danish National COach Kenneth Jonassen agreed: "You played too soft at the end of the third game instead of just keeping the pressure on them"
But - as mentioned before, it was a fabulous good match to watch! Thanks for that!

THAT was a good match....!

Except, of course, if you are the loser of it!
Unseeded Koreans Baek Cheol Shin/Hyun Young Yoo was up against Thomas Laybourn/Kamilla Rytter Juhl, DEN, seeded 3.

This match was completely different to the first match of today - this Mixed Doubles represented speedy-speedy-speedy play throughout the match from the "Love all - play" to "Match won by..."! It was fast-paced, with the two parties constantly trying to outsmart each other - with various degree of success. The Danes won comfortably the first game 21-11. Throughout the match Denmark was best at that, even at the very end... Unfortunately, they seemed to loose some of their patience at sent several shuttles into the net.  When playing aggressive, forwarding play, you gamble and sometimes lose a few.... From 12-12 in the second game the Koreans became more visible in the match and on the first game point won the game 21-15.
The first point of the third game saw the ultimatively best rally of the match!
It had everything you could ask for in a badminton match - Fabulous speed, a mixture of attacking and defending, shots that are not mentioned in the ule book of badminton!  Compliments to all four players on court+  Too bad only one side could be awarded a point. Denmark had 4 match points but due to own faults and some good shots from the Koreans, KOR equaliyed the score - and the Koreans won the third game 24-22 on their third match point!