Hafiz and Choong Hann run out of steam in semi-finals
News 2:48 PM
PETALING JAYA: The old hands - Mohd Hafiz Hashim and Wong Choong Hann - ran out of steam in the German Open when they crashed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at Mulheim yesterday.
Hafiz has to wait longer to end his four-year title drought when his march to the final was stopped by Chen Long of China.
Hafiz went down 21-15, 21-19 despite holding a four-point advantage in the second game.
The two-time former world junior champion Chen Long had refused to give in although trailing at 8-12 in the second game and constantly piled up the pressure to narrow the gap and eventually levelled it at 16-16.
Showing more urgency and determination to win than Hafiz, Chen Long lunged at every shot and went all the way to seal a 21-19 win.
Hafiz had avenged his defeat to Marc Zwiebler of Germany just a day ago but today, he just could not keep the momentum going.
It will be a tall order for him to clear the early rounds of the All-England if he does make a quick rebound.
He will take on Taiwanese Hsieh Yu-hsing in the opening round and may take on second seed Lin Dan in the second round at Birminghan next week.
It was also a sad end for Choong Hann, who went down 18-21, 13-21 to top seed Bao Chunlai of China in 39-minutes.
Despite the defeat, Choong Hann can look forward for a call-up to represent the country in the Thomas Cup Finals because he certainly performed better than several back-up players.
With Hafiz and Choong Hann’s defeat, Malaysia’s campaign in the German Open had ended.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 2:48 PM.
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