The China Open, IBF 6 Star Badminton World Grand Prix, started in Guangzhou Tianhe Gymnasium on Tuesday.

The World Badminton Federation's draw was held on November 2, and men's singles top seed Lin Dan got a first-round bye in the first 1/4 block. He is likely to encounter ninth seed Boesen Anders from Denmark in the third round.

The fourth seed, Indonesian Kuncoro Sony Dwi, tops the second block, while third and fifth seeds Xia Xuanze and Bao Chunlai, both Chinese, dominate the third. The last block is headed by another Indonesian, Taufik Hidayat, who won at the Athens Olympics, and world second seed Gade Peter of Denmark.

Owing to the absence of the powerful Dane Camilla Martin and Dutch Athens silver medallist Mia Audina-Tjiptawan, the women's singles is dominated by the Chinese national team led by four veteran players: Zhang Ning, Gong Zhina, Zhou Mi and Xie Xingfang.

In the women's doubles, top-seeded 2004 Olympic runner-up Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen will play second seeded Wei Yili/Zhao Tingting and third-seeded Gao Ling/Huang Sui.

Guan Weizhen, associate administrator of Guangzhou Sports Administration and director of Guangzhou Badminton Sports Administration Center, said that all of the US$275,000 funding had been raised thanks to heated competition for sponsorship. Unlike the previous award, which was delayed by long taxation procedures, Guan promised that this time the award money would be delivered promptly to the winner.

To present a wonderful gala for more badminton lovers, the organizer set tickets at only 20 yuan (US$2.4) for all the first three days' games and cancelled free tickets to crack down on ticket touts.

Guangzhou Badminton Association has successfully held several high-level badminton competitions both domestically and internationally, such as the ninth national games in 2001, the 2002 Thomas and Uber Cup as well as the 2003 China Open, at which Chinese athletes won all four titles apart from the men's doubles.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao November 9, 2004)