Dutch badminton players vying for US$ 1,250,000 prize purse of Indonesia Open 2018 in Jakarta

Maak kennis met Pim van Veghel!

Money-wise this tournament is excitingly lucrative: all events are capped at 32 players / pairs and they're all awarded at at least US$ 1,250 just for stepping on court. The amount triples for those reaching round two and so on.

At number 22 on the world ranking Piek and Seinen are perfectly positioned to take on China's Li Wenmei and Huang Dongping (WR44). While Wenmei is comparatively unexperienced, Dongping is the current world number one in mixed doubles. This Tuesday Piek and Seinen will have to bring their absolute A-game to pull off a victory in this first round match.

Men's and mixed doubles start on Wednesday

At number 14 on the world ranking Selena Piek and Jacco Arends are just two spots away from their pre-RIO2016 career high of WR12 and they'll playing opposite England's husband and wife couple Chris and Gabby Adcock (WR9).

The two European pairs haven't played each other since 2015 so it'll be interesting to see how they measure up almost three years later. The head to head is 0-3 with the last two matches in decidedly English advantage. Piek and Jacco clearly are underdogs, but certainly are not without opportunity for a surprise victory. Let's hope the Dutch duo conjures up some Harry Potter-level badminton magic this week!

Cheryl Seinen goes head to head with world number one twice

Robin Tabeling and Cheryl Seinen (WR30) fared not so well in the draw, being awared a first round match against the world number one mixed doubles pair of Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping (second seeded in Jakarta). If anything, this match will give the Dutch pair a first time opportunity to experience world number one style opposition.

Tough first round for Mark Caljouw

When you're world number 25 matches do not become any easier, rather you compete in higher level tournaments. Mark Caljouw will get to live this reality with his first round match against Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (WR10). The two men's singles players haven't met before, but with Ginting being much higher ranked AND playing on home soil he's got a lot going for him.

Caljouw has yet to beat any of the current world ranking top 10 players, but stranger things have happened...

Click here to follow the matches of the Dutch players.