South Korea’s up and coming men’s doubles pair：Kim Ki Jung / Kim Sa Rang

The two most important international tournaments in September were the Asian Masters held in Changzhou, China and the Japan Open Super Series held in Tokyo. With these two competitions held too close together, most of the better known players chose to appear at the longer established Tokyo tournament.

Of course, the players in Japan and China were determined to perform well in front of their home crowds and the number of points they collected saw a clear increase on other tournaments. This is why, in the BWF world rankings for October released on October 3, the players who have moved up in the Top 10 Club are mainly from these two countries.

At present the top spots in the five badminton disciples are held by men’s singles ： Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei ; women’s singles ： China’s Wang Yi Han ; men’s doubles South Korea’s Lee Yong Dae / Jung Jae Sung ; women’s doubles ： China’s Tian Qing / Zhao Yun Lei ; and mixed doubles ： China’s Xu Zhen / Ma Jin. 

South Korea has always been strong in the men’s and women’s doubles, especially the men’s doubles. Lee Yong Dae / Jung Jae Sung currently at No. 1 in the world and Yoo Yeon Seong / Ko Sung Hyun at No. 4 are good examples of the country’s men’s doubles strength.

Now, just as these established pairs are preparing to be split up, an up and coming South Korean pair Kim Ki Jung / Kim Sa Rang took the men’s doubles title at the Tokyo Open Super Series, defeating the Malaysian pair Koo Kien Keat Tan Boon Heong who took 4h place at the London Olympics, also moving up to 10th in the world rankings.

Tai Tzu Ying took the women’s singles title in Tokyo

It should also be pointed out that Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying is stealthily but rapidly approaching the Top 10 Club.

Faced by powerful opponents at the Tokyo Open she made her way to the final, in the process beating Thailand’s No. 1 women’s singles player, Inthanon Ratchanok, who is ranked above her (ranked 10th in the world)  in the quarter final.

In the semi-final she did even better by claiming the scalp of South Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun (No. 8 in the world). In the final, she faced Hirose Eriko, who  had the advantage of playing in front of her home crowd, but Tai wasn’t intimidated by the loud support for her opponent and played brilliantly all the way through the match, in the end winning 2：1. 

Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying has been in sizzling form recently and has sliced through the opposition!

BWF World Rankings for September 2012