One of the biggest-paying events on the BWF World Tour, the $1,000,000 Victor China Open is on this week in Changzhou (CHN) with a strong cast of the top players in the world. The top seeds:
∙ Men’s Singles:
1. Viktor Axelsen (DEN)
2. Yuqi Shi (CHN)
∙ Men’s Doubles:
1. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA)
2. Junhui Li/Yuchen Liu (CHN)
∙ Women’s Singles:
1. Tzu Ying Tai (TPE)
2. Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)
∙ Women’s Doubles:
1. Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (JPN)
2. Misaki Matsumoto/Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)
∙ Mixed Doubles:
1. Siwei Zheng/Yaqiong Huang (CHN)
2. Yilyu Wang/Dongping Huang (CHN)
Worth noting in the men’s Singles is the presence of two Olympic champions: China’s Lin Dan (2008-12) and Long Chen (2016). If they win in the early rounds, they would meet in the quarterfinals in the same bracket and world no. 1 (and 2016 bronze winner) Axelsen. Chen has won this tournament four times and Dan three times and Chen in the defending champion.
In the women’s Singles, all three medalists from Rio are in: gold winner Carolina Marin (ESP), silver medalist P.V. Sindhu (IND) and bronze medalist Nozomi Okuhara from Japan. Japan’s Yamaguchi is the defending champion; Sindhu won in 2016.
In Doubles, Gideon and Sukamuljo are two-time defending champs in the men’s division and Zheng and Huang won in Mixed Doubles last year=.
The event is the equal-third best-paying tournament of the year; the World Tour Finals in December will pay $1.5 million, then the Indonesia Open ($1.25) and then the China Open and the All-England Open at $1 million each.
Look for results here.
