In this event two Dutch pairs have qualified for the World Championships. Lotte Jonathans and her partner Paulien van Dooremalen and Selena Piek with Iris Tabeling.
Lotte and Paulien are seeded 13th and in the first round they have a bye. This means that they will either play against Chan and Chau from Hong Kong or Agathangelou and Olver from England. Considering the ranking of both pairs Lotte and Paulien should not have much to fear. They have never met the Hong Kong Chinese before but against the English the mutual position is 2-2. An interesting detail is that all four matches were decided in three games. Still I believe that Lotte and Paulien can cope better with the English than with the Chinese way of playing. If they manage to win this second round than they will most probably be confronted with the Japanese pair Matsuo and Naito.
Selena and Iris have a successful year behind them and they have qualified themselves for their first World Championship. They have drawn the Canadian girls Michelle Li and Alex Bruce which is not bad at all. Although the Canadians are 13 points better in ranking I consider our pair to stand a good chance provided Iris is without injury and fit to play next week. A few months ago, during the Sudirman Cup at Qingdao, Iris, at the time together with Samantha Barning, played against these two girls and then the Canadians grabbed the win in two close games. It is going to be an interesting match. If Selena and Iris win they will meet the Koreans Ha and Kim in the second round.