Shuttler Taufik the top seed in Swiss Open

Shuttler Taufik the top seed in Swiss Open

JAKARTA (JP): World number five Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia is
the top seed in the four-star Swiss Open and is hoping for an
encounter in the final with second-seed Roslin Hashim of
Malaysia.

The International Badminton Federation announced in a press
release that world number seven Marlev Mainaky of Indonesia was
the fourth seed in the event, which will be held from March 14 to
March 18 in Basel, Switzerland.

Taufik, who only managed to reach the third round of the All
England last week, will get a bye in the first round before
meeting the winner of the match between Saman Ismail of Malaysia
and Switzerland's Thomas Iversen.

Marlev, who moved to a Japanese club recently, also received a
first-round bye and will meet the winner of Tooru Matsumoto of
Japan and Christian Unternaehrer of Switzerland in the second
round.

Both Taufik and Marlev will compete in the Swiss Open -- the
first World Grand Prix event to use the five-game, seven-point
scoring system -- after receiving invitations from event
organizers.

Players, coaches and the media will be watching closely to see
how the world's best fare with the new system, which, by
shortening the games, is intended to inject more excitement and
dynamism into the sport.

Badminton Association of Indonesia executive training director
Christian Hadinata said on Tuesday he expected both players to
improve upon their performances at the All England.

The second seeded Roslin, who lost to Chen Hong of China in
the All England's semifinals, also has a first-round bye and will
meet the winner of the match between Ronald Susilo of Singapore
and a qualifier in the second round.

Third-seed Kenneth Jonassen also has a first-round bye and
will await the winner of Swede Daniel Eriksson and Paulo von
Scala of Switzerland.

In the women's singles, Marina Andrievskaya of Sweden is the
top seed, and with China's top shuttlers not taking part in the
event, she has a good shot at the title. Barring any upsets,
Andrievskaya will meet second seeded Kelly Morgan of Wales in the
final.

Zeng Yaqiong of China is the third seed, with Mia Audina of
the Netherlands seeded fourth.

Denmark has the top seeds in the three doubles events; Michael
Sogaard and Rikke Olsen in the mixed doubles, Jens Eriksen and
Jesper Larsen in the men's doubles and Helene Kirkegaard and
Rikke Olsen in the women's doubles.

Sogaard and Olsen are eager to win the mixed doubles title
after their tough All England final defeat to China's Olympic
champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling.

The Danish duo hope to make it an all-Danish final on Sunday
with Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager. (yan)