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The dust is finally settled.  Kumpoo Macau Open 2011 is the show of two greatest badminton countries in the world, China and Korea.  As shown in the BWF and IBF  ranking, China dominates the women single category.  However, the women double category is now belonged to Korea.  Do you remember the upset of Uber Cup a few years back?

Wang Shixian is finally showing her supermacy by winning the semi final stage of her country rival, Li Xuerui in three set, 20-22 21-11 and 21-16.  During the previous two events, Hong Kong and China Open, Wang was not doing well.  This is her come back to keep her nomination alive for next year Olympics. Meanwhile, the raising star, Li Han is all over Shao Chieh Chang in convincing winning match 21-9 21-17.

The men final will feature Du Pengyu who won the semi final match of Simon Santoso in 53 minutes.  The score was 21-17 21-17.  On the other floor, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim could continue his strikes.  He was stopped by Hyun Il Lee 21-16 and 21-11. 

The men doubles will feature two favorites pairs.  Sung Hyun Ko/ Yeon Seong Yoo will face Biao Chai/ Zhendong Guo in the final.  Ko/ Yoo won from Alvent Yulianto Chandra/ Hendra A. Gunawan in straight set, 21-13 21-18.  Guo/ Chai also won in straight set 21-17 23-21 of Chieh Min Fang/ Sheng Mu Lee.

In women doubles, both Korean pairs stopped Japanese contenders back to back.  Kyung Eun Jung/ Ha Na Kim stopped Miyuki Maeda/ Satoko Suetsuna 21-14 19-21 and 21-13.  Hye Won Eom/ Ye Na Jung won of Shizuka Matsuo/ Mami Naito 21-14-21-10.

The mixed match will feature Indonesian Tontowi Ahmad/ Liliyana Natsir against Hung Ling Chen/ Wen Hsing Cheng.  Tontowi/ Liliyana won from the third seed pair of Thailand, Sudke Prapakamol/ Saralee Thoungthongkam 21-17 21-11.  Chen/ Cheng won the match from Muhammad Rijal/ Debby Susanto 18-21 21-14 and 21-14.

Without the number one player in the world, Malaysia is not able to show its caliber in Macau Open 2011.  After the second day of the event, Malaysia only has Mohammad Hafiz Hashim in the men single category.  All other players, including Darren Liew was long gone in the first round. Hashim won the match last night of his countryman, Kwong Ben Chan in straight set, 21-8 21-18.  Today, Hashim will face Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia who took off another Malaysian rookie, Wee Chung Pei, in 23 minutes with the score of 21-3 21-9.

There is no surprising results today.  All the favorites are rolling into the next rounds, except Inthanon Ratchanok (Thailand) who lost to China rising star, Li Han, in straight set 14-21 17-21.

The 2011 Kumpoo Macau Open is officially opened on November 29, 2011.  It is the following week after the blistering China Open which most of the titles are held by the Chinese team.  They even had three all-china finals, men single, women double and women single.

The world number one player in the world, Lee Chong Wei and his nemesis Lin Dan, withdraw their participation, while Chen Long is not registering in the event.

The first seeded entry for men single is now replaced by Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia) followed by Dupeng Yu (China), Simon Santoso (Indonesia), Hyun Il Lee (Korea), Wang Zhengming (China) and Kenichi Tago (Japan).  Wang Shixian, who lost on the second round by Inthanon Ratchanok (Thailand) last week in Hong Kong Open, is seeded in first place, followed by Jiang Yanjiao (China), Shio Chieh Cheng (Taipei), Sung Ji Hyun (Korea) and Bae Youn Joo (korea) in the top five women single category.

The men double pairs consist of secondary teams from their respective countries, except Indonesia.  The first seeded pair is Koo/ Yoo (Korea), followed by Ahsan/ Septano (Indonesia), Chai/ Guo (China), Kido/ Setiawan (Indonesia), and Chandra/ Gunawan (Indonesia) to round up the top five pairs.

The rest of the categories are also not filled with top pairs.

There are many of new faces appearing in this event, especially to countries which are not dominant in badminton arena.  Philippine is surprisingly sending full load of  players.  However, they have to compete early in the qualification rounds of the opening day.  Malaysia is also loading up their secondary teams, including Darren Liew (World Junior Champion), Mohammad Arif Abdul Latif, Chan Kwong Beng, and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin.

This event will continue until December 04, 2011.  The next event is the Victor Korean Open which will be held on December 6-11, 2011.