Maneepong and Bodin to play in Basel

The entry lists were released today for the 2015 Badminton Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold.  Of particular note was the inclusion of former partners Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit of Thailand.  As reported in the Thai press last month, the two have buried the hatchet since their violent altercation at the Canada Open in July, 2013, and have decided that together they have the best chance of qualifying for the Olympics in 2016.

Bodin Issara had been serving a two-year ban that only expires in July of this year but following an appeal last summer, the BWF Disciplinary Committee agreed in December to grant him a parole period that began on January 1st of this year.  Under the terms of the parole, if he receives a red or black card, the entire six-month and twenty-day remainder of his suspension period will be reinstated.

In a Grand Prix Gold event with strong fields across the board, men’s doubles is the only draw without a current top ten player, though two former Olympic champions with relatively new partners may be the next best thing.  The mixed doubles draw has as its top seed former World Champions Tontowi Ahmad / Liliyana Natsir and one interesting development there is that Germany has become the latest to try out some new partnerships in a major tournament just before the Olympic qualifying period together Birgit Michels and Isabel Herttrich will be swapping partners to play the Swiss with Peter Kaesbauer and Michael Fuchs respectively.

Click here to download the Swiss Open entry lists from the BWF website

Photo: Badmintonphoto