Following the BWF World Tour Finals, we have the last International Series event of the year before Christmas. Previously called the Turkey International, players will take flight one last time before the year comes to a close.
Young Canadian to steal the show
Brian Yang tops the men’s singles category and is looking to add an impressive fourth title to his cabinet for 2019. The young Canadian looks to be in impressive form leading into the tournament.
Ade Resky Dwicahyo, Luís Enrique Peñalver and Gergely Krausz, who are second, third and fourth seeds respectively, will be hoping to stop the top youth player and secure the title for themselves.
With plenty of home players lined up in qualifying, there is room for several upsets. Denmark and Spain have a good representation in men's singles with three and five players respectively.
The women bringing it home for Turkey
Both the women’s singles and the women’s doubles should be a delight for home fans to watch. With Neslihan Yigit topping the seedings for the women's singles and Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlıcan Inci being first seeds in the women's doubles, Turkey has strong contenders to keep the titles at home.
Turkey also takes the second and fourth seed places with Aliye Demirbag and Ozge Bayrak in the women’s singles. Bayrak will be looking to oust her compatriots to retain the title she won the previous two years, as well as fighting off Clara Azurmendi of Spain and Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan of Nigeria, seeded third and fifth respectively.
Ercetin and Inci will be looking to go one better than last year’s semifinals loss and win the title. They won’t see non-Turkish competition until they reach the final and could find Daniella Gonda and Agnes Korosi of Hungary, or Viktoriia Kozyreva and Mariia Sukhova of Russia awaiting them.
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Strong seedings in men's doubles and mixed doubles
Men's doubles see several Ukranian pairs entered including fourth seeds Ivan Druzchenko and Oleksandr Kolesnik. It’s topped by favourites Godwin Olofua and Anuoluwapo Juwon Opeyori of Nigeria and seconded by Jaromir Janacek and Tomáš Švejda of Czech Republic.
The men's doubles draw could open up if the favourites cross paths with Mikkel Stoffersen and Mads Vestergaard of Denmark, the only Danish pairing in the men's doubles.
The mixed doubles feature an all Turkish qualifying round before we get to the main draw and more countries come into play. Top seeds Miha Ivančič and Petra Polanc of Slovenia will be looking for their second title of the year, while Mikkel Stoffersen and Susan Ekelund of Denmark, second seeds, will be looking for their first-ever mixed doubles title.
For the full list of seeded entries and draw, click here.