India’s Thomas Cup winners Srikanth Kidambi (above) and H.S. Prannoy and Chinese Taipei’s World No.4 men’s singles player Chou Tien Chen and World No.2 women’s singles shuttler Tai Tzu Ying will be adding their star quality to the US$370,000 Singapore Badminton Open (SBO).
The quartet are among the more than 300 players who have registered for the 12-17 July tournament at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, after entries closed on 31 May.
The tournament will be a showcase of the world’s best badminton players.
More than 25 players ranked in the world’s top 10 of their respective categories are scheduled to be in Singapore. The host themselves are sending a bumper team of 36 players led by World No.10 men’s singles player and BWF World Champion Loh Kean Yew.
World No.18 women’s singles shuttler Yeo Jia Min as well as husband-and-wife mixed doubles duo Terry Hee and Tan Wei Han, this year’s India Open champions, will also be hoping to deliver Singapore its first SBO title in 12 years.
Thomas Cup heroes and Chinese Taipei stars
An undoubted big draw will be Kidambi and Prannoy, who helped deliver India their first-ever Thomas Cup title with a 3-0 win over Indonesia last month. Team captain Kidambi’s 21-15, 23-21 win over Jonatan Christie earned India the decisive point, sending millions of India fans in ecstasy.
Kidambi will be bidding to be the first Indian to win the men’s singles title in Singapore since B. Sai Praneeth’s triumph in 2017. But he will face stiff competition from the likes of Christie, and six other players in the top 10 of the men’s singles rankings, including Denmark’s World No.1 Viktor Axelsen and World No.3 Anders Antonsen and Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, the World No.5.
Chinese Taipei’s World No.2 Chou (above) will relish a return to the Singapore Indoor Stadium. He tasted victory in 2018 and will be one of the favourites to lift the crown on July 17.
His compatriot Tai is another who has tasted success in Singapore. She won the women’s singles in both 2017 and 2019, the last time the tournament was contested before taking a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But in order to notch a hat-trick of Singapore titles, she (above) will have to contend with a women’s singles field comprising the likes of China’s World No.4 Chen Yu Fei, World No.9 He BingJiao and Thailand’s World No.8 and SBO 2016 champion Ratchanok Intanon.
Chinese Taipei will also be represented by their top guns in the men’s doubles. The World No.4 men’s pairing of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, who claimed their nation’s first-ever badminton gold at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
Tickets start from $5 for children and $30 for adults
The tournament’s stellar field has seen tickets for the event in high demand – platinum and standard tickets for the finals have already sold out, leaving 75% of overall tickets and close to 90% of final day tickets off the shelves.
Fans can choose to purchase either season passes or single-day tickets.
Season passes start at $100 for a family bundle of two tickets to $488 for a platinum pass which comes with an exclusive seat complete with food and beverages.
Single-day tickets start from $5 for children and $30 for adults to $350 for a single-day premium seat on the final day.
Tickets are available for purchase via Ticketmaster.
