Singapore Badminton Open 2013: Draw, Dates, Full Schedule and Favorites

The Li-Ning Singapore Open got its start in 1987 as a large-scale tournament for some of badminton’s greatest players.

Since the inaugural event, the Singapore Open has continued to grow, now representing one of the biggest and most prestigious badminton tournaments of the year.

As noted on the tournament’s official website, the Singapore Open is a terrific event for promoting the sport, and it’s also a tremendous opportunity for both sponsors and players to gain exposure.

This year’s tournament will take place in the Singapore Indoor Stadium—a venue perfectly suited for a major badminton event.

The venue has played host to a number of entertainment and sporting events, and has been the home of the Singapore Open since 2004.

Juliane Schenk and Boonsak Ponsana enter the tournament as defending champions, but there’s plenty of tough competition standing in the way of a repeat performance.

With full fields of 32 players in each draw, winning the Singapore Open will require a lot of skill and a little luck.

Let’s take a look at the draws from the men’s and women’s singles tournaments, as well as the full schedule and a few players to keep an eye on as the tournament starts up on June 18.

Where: Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore City

When: June 17 (qualification) to June 22 (finals)

Draws

Men’s Singles

Pengyu Du (1)

Anand Pawar

Chen Yueken

Marc Zwiebler

Tien Minh Nguyen

Lin Dan (Withdrawn)*

Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka

Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk

Kenichi Tago (4)

Ajay Jayaram

Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif

Rajiv Ouseph

Zhengming Wang (8)

Daren Liew

Qualification Player TBD

Tommy Sugiarto

Kazumasa Sakai

Simon Santoso

Takuma Ueda

Kashyap Parupalli (7)

Sho Sasaki

Qualification Player TBD

Chun Seang Tan

Sony Dwi Kuncoro (3)

Sourabh Varma

Wing Ki Wong

Qualification Player TBD

Boonsak Ponsana (5)

Wei Feng Chong

Gurusaidutt R. M. V.

Qualification Player TBD

Yun Hu (2)

Women’s Singles

Xuerui Li (1)

Sashina Vignes Waran

Nichaon Jindapon

Belaetrix Manuputi

Ji Hyun Sung (6)

Sindhu P. V.

Pui Yin Yip

Sapsiree Taerattanachai

Juliane Schenk (3)

Tsz Ka Chan

Qualification Player TBD

Yui Hashimoto

Minatsu Mitani (8)

Adrianti Firdasari

Tzu Ying Tai

Aprilla Yuswandari

Qualification Player TBD

Petya Nedelcheva

Yeon Ju Bae

Shixian Wang (7)

Sayaka Takahashi

Carolina Marin

Busanan Ongbumrungpan

Yihan Wang (4)

Qualification Player TBD

Lindaweni Fanetri

Qualification Player TBD

Ratchanok Intanon (5)

Porntip Buranaprasertsuk

Eriko Hirose

Juan Gu

Saina Nehwal (2)

*Full draw information can also be found here.

Schedule

Monday, June 17	9 p.m. to 3 a.m. ET	Qualifying Rounds
Tuesday, June 18	9 p.m. to 10 a.m. ET	Preliminary Rounds
Wednesday, June 19	2 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET	Round of 16
Thursday, June 20	3 a.m. to 10Ca.m. ET	Quarterfinals
Friday, June 21	2 a.m. to 7 a.m. ET	Semifinals
Saturday, June 22	1 a.m. to 6 a.m. ET	Finals

*For full schedule with local times, visit SingaporeBadmintonOpen.sg. 

Players to Watch

Juliane Schenk

Schenk took down the 2012 Singapore Open with an impressive run that culminated in a 21-11, 26-24 victory over Cheng Shao-Chieh in the finals. This year, the German will set her sights on defending her title against a strong field of competitors.

Last year's win is the only Super Series title of Schenk's career to date, but she's been playing extremely well of late.

On Saturday, she defeated three-time Indonesia Open winner Saina Nehwal in the tournament's semifinals to secure a berth in the finals and a chance to build significant momentum heading into the Singapore Open.

The No. 3 seed in the tournament, Schenk may find herself facing No. 2 Nehwal again this week, though she'll likely have to get past top-ranked Xuerui Li to set up that rematch.

Boonsak Ponsana

The second half of the returning champions duo, Ponsana, enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed, with a first-round matchup yet to be determined.

Following the qualifying round, Ponsana's tournament path will become clearer, though several top-ranked opponents litter his half of the draw.

The Thailand native continues to find success at the Singapore Open, winning in 2007 before recapturing the title last year. In 2009 and 2010, the 31-year-old posted runner-up finishes, and stands to make another big splash this year.