Chong Wei gets chance to bag a hat-trick of wins at home
News 8:18 AM
PETALING JAYA: Lee Chong Wei will be out to treat his fans to a third title at home but Bao Chunlai, China’s sole singles representative in the Super Series Masters Finals, could spoil his party in Johor Baru.
In the draw released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) yesterday, Chong Wei and Chunlai are in Group A with Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and Hsieh Yu-hsin of Taiwan. Chong Wei begins his campaign against Yu-hsin at the Bandaraya Stadium today.
First up: Lee Chong Wei will take on Taiwan's Hsieh Yu-hsin (above) in his opening match today.
The other group comprises Danes Peter-Gade Christensen and Jan O Jorgsen, Thai Boonsak Ponsana and South Korean Park Sung-hwan.
The top two in each group advance to play in cross-over semi-finals.
Chong Wei has not disappointed the home fans twice this year, emerging as the champion in the Malaysian Open in January and the Malaysian Grand Prix Gold in June. And he is looking forward to a successful defence of the Masters Finals title, which he won in Kota Kinabalu last year.
The lanky Chunlai is the only Chinese singles player in the fray following the last-minute withdrawal of Lu Lan from the women’s competition.
The withdrawal of Lu Lan was a stroke of good fortune for Wong Mew Choo, who came in as the replacement in the lucrative championships offering US$500,000 in total prize money.
National singles coach Misbun Sidek said that Chunlai certainly had the ability to make life difficult for his opponents.
But he hopes that world No. 1 Chong Wei will remain calm in his approach and enjoy another successful outing in the Finals.
“We expected the draw to be tough. Chong Wei has Chunlai and Taufik for company in his group. There will be extra motivation for Chunlai, especially when he is the only Chinese player to challenge for singles honours,” said Misbun.
“China may not have the quantity here but they have quality in their players. But as long as Chong Wei keeps his composure, he should come through the tough challenges. I just hope that he will not heap unnecessary pressure on himself.”
On Mew Choo’s eleventh hour entry into the Finals, Misbun said: “A good opportunity has come rolling her way. Hopefully, she will take her chances well and reach at least the semi-finals.
“This is also the platform for Mew Choo to gauge where she stands against some of her SEA Games opponents.”
Mew Choo is in Group A with Saina Nehwal of India, Canada’s Charmaine Reid and Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk. Group B has Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand, Yao Jie of Holland and Germany’s Nicole Grether and Juliane Schenk.
Porntip and Salakjit are seen as Mew Choo’s stumbling block in her task to regain the SEA Games title, which she won in Vietnam in 2003.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 8:18 AM.
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