The 2014 Babolat Kharkov International kicks-off tomorrow and will last until Sunday in the city of Kharkov. In the period of political turbulences the International Challenge tournament (15.000 US Dollar) gathered only 69 players from nine countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, Israel, Slovenia, Turkey, Czech Republic, Sweden, Southern Africa Republic and Ukraine).

The top seed in the men’s singles is local star Dmytro Zavadsky (World No. 48). Zavadsky (pictured) has already won the Kharkov International twice in 2009 and 2013. This year the Ukrainian number one shuttler has a great opportunity to repeat the success and become an author of a hat-trick. Certainly, badminton fans will see interesting battles with participation of some Danish players: 2009 European Junior Champion and winner of Kharkov International in 2012 – Emil Holst, the silver medalist of the 2008 European Championships Joachim Persson and Denmark's up-and-coming Rasmus Fladberg.

Favorites in the women’s singles are Bulgarian player Linda Zetchiri (World No. 33), the Ukrainian champion – Marija Ulitina (World No. 76) and the silver medal winner of the 2013 Mediterranean Games Turkish player Özge Bayrak (World No. 85).

Turkey's Bayrak and Yigit are in Kharkov to win

The Turkish pair of Özge Bayrak and Neslihan Yigit (World No. 47)is the hot favourite in the women’s doubles category. The duo visits Kharkov for the third time, in previous years they reached the semi-final and final and hope to win the tournament this time.

Due to the weak representation of foreigners at the tournament the local players, particularly from the Ukrainian junior national team, will have an opportunity to prove their skills at the International Challenge tournament.

The experimental scoring system "5x11", in which all matches will be played with three winning games to eleven points without setting, will be tested in Kharkov.

Click here for all the results of the Babolat Kharkov International.

Photo by BadmintonPhoto.