Badminton: It’s all up to Chong Wei
News 10:47 AM
PETALING JAYA: Lee Chong Wei has a good chance to keep his unbeaten record thus far this season in the Super Series as the top Chinese shuttlers, including Olympic and world champion Lin Dan, have opted out of the Singapore Open from June 15-20.
The Chinese have commitments in their national league and Chong Wei will be looking to capitalise on it to regain the title.
Chong Wei, who won the Open in South Korea and Malaysia in January before claiming a first All-England title in March, should clear the first two rounds against Brice Leverdez of France and young Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.
The world No. 1 is tipped to play against Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals but should not be duly troubled by the Indonesian whose fitness is still in question.
Sony came down with a back injury while playing in the second singles match of a Thomas Cup group tie against India in Kuala Lumpur last month.
The other quarter in the same half has third seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam and eighth seeded Japanese Kenichi Tago, who lost to Chong Wei in the All-England final. Tien Minh defeated Chong Wei in the second round in last year’s tournament.
The other half of the draw has Thai Boonsak Ponsana and Danes Jan Jorgensen and Peter-Gade Christensen, who is the second seed.
Malaysian veteran Wong Choong Hann has a first-round match against Tien Minh while Mohd Hafiz Hashim will have to overcome Jorgensen if he harbours hopes of securing a first Super Series quarter-final appearance this year.
It will be a much tougher challenge for the world No. 1 men’s pair of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong with Indonesia’s Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and Danes Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen and Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen in the fray.
But they are not the only worries for the top seeded Malaysians, who have unseeded Korean pairs in their path in the early rounds.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong open against Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol and may have to take on Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong next.
The Malaysian duo lost to Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in the Swiss Open final in March and may find themselves at the losing end if they fail to respond to the Koreans’ swift attacking pace.
Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif are in the same half as Kien Keat-Boon Heong but they will have to get past fourth seeds Paaske-Rasmussen for a possible all-Malaysian semi-final.
Women’s doubles pair Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui have withdrawn from the Singapore Open as the former has yet to recover from a knee injury suffered during the Uber Cup Finals last month.
The Chinese have commitments in their national league and Chong Wei will be looking to capitalise on it to regain the title.
Chong Wei, who won the Open in South Korea and Malaysia in January before claiming a first All-England title in March, should clear the first two rounds against Brice Leverdez of France and young Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.
The world No. 1 is tipped to play against Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals but should not be duly troubled by the Indonesian whose fitness is still in question.
Sony came down with a back injury while playing in the second singles match of a Thomas Cup group tie against India in Kuala Lumpur last month.
The other quarter in the same half has third seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam and eighth seeded Japanese Kenichi Tago, who lost to Chong Wei in the All-England final. Tien Minh defeated Chong Wei in the second round in last year’s tournament.
The other half of the draw has Thai Boonsak Ponsana and Danes Jan Jorgensen and Peter-Gade Christensen, who is the second seed.
Malaysian veteran Wong Choong Hann has a first-round match against Tien Minh while Mohd Hafiz Hashim will have to overcome Jorgensen if he harbours hopes of securing a first Super Series quarter-final appearance this year.
It will be a much tougher challenge for the world No. 1 men’s pair of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong with Indonesia’s Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and Danes Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen and Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen in the fray.
But they are not the only worries for the top seeded Malaysians, who have unseeded Korean pairs in their path in the early rounds.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong open against Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol and may have to take on Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong next.
The Malaysian duo lost to Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in the Swiss Open final in March and may find themselves at the losing end if they fail to respond to the Koreans’ swift attacking pace.
Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif are in the same half as Kien Keat-Boon Heong but they will have to get past fourth seeds Paaske-Rasmussen for a possible all-Malaysian semi-final.
Women’s doubles pair Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui have withdrawn from the Singapore Open as the former has yet to recover from a knee injury suffered during the Uber Cup Finals last month.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 10:47 AM.
Filed under
