Have a gander through some important facts around the 42nd Japan Open, the year’s third HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event which starts today.

• Countries with seeded entries waiting for maiden titlist (s) are India (men’s singles and doubles) and France (mixed doubles).
• Japan and China are the only nations with seeds in all five departments.
• China have been winning at least one category starting with the 2013 edition.
• No country has ruled a discipline like they have mixed doubles the past decade. Six of the last eight finals were aced by them.
• After Akane Yamaguchi ended their 32-year wait for a home champion in 2013, Japan have celebrated podium toppers at all but one edition (2016).
• Top seed Yamaguchi stands to become the maiden women’s singles shuttler to win three consecutive Japan Opens.
• That would mean a fourth overall title, the most by a player since Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei’s sixth in 2016.
• Japan, however, are yet to produce a winning pair in men’s and mixed doubles.
• Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, seeded second this edition, went close in 2022 but lost the mixed doubles final to Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
• Men’s doubles fifth seed Takuro Hoki also has a runner-up finish in mixed doubles from 2017 alongside Sayaka Hirota.
• Second seeds Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai are also the only non-Chinese mixed pair to take the honours since Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen in 2015.
• Malaysia have two seeded men’s pairs (No.4 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik and No.6 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi) but no success in the discipline after Chong Ming Chan/Choon Eng Chew triumphed in 2002.
• Chia and Soh, still looking for a World Tour crown, experienced their biggest highs in Tokyo – Olympic bronze in 2021 and World Championships title last year.
• Glory for second seeds Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang will make them the first Chinese men’s pair since Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng in 2011 to be champions more than once.
• Japan Open was women’s singles fourth seed Tai Tzu Ying’s maiden Superseries victory. At the time of winning in 2012, 18-year-old Tai made history as the youngest to capture an event at that level.
• Thailand have never won men’s singles, a category Kunlavut Vitidsarn is seeded third in. Vitidsarn lifted 2023’s first 750 in January at the India Open.
• Second seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and fifth seed Jonatan Christie meanwhile, possess the opportunity to end Indonesia’s 15-year dry spell in the discipline. Sony Dwi Kuncoro in 2008 was the last Indonesian winner.

Standout Stat: If successful, their compatriot, Hendra Setiawan (men’s doubles seventh seed with Mohammad Ahsan), will become the first player in tournament history to win in three different decades. He triumphed in 2009 (with Markis Kido) and 2013 (Ahsan).