Taufik says world title not as prestigious as Asiad crown
News, Top News 4:26 PM
DENMARK’s Peter Gade-Christensen is the luckiest man. China’s
Lin Dan is the hot favourite. And Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei has a chance.
This is Indonesian Taufik Hidayat’s assessment on the contenders for the world championship men’s singles title. And where does this leave the former world champion?
Cool rebel:
Indonesia’s former world champion Taufik Hidayat says he won’t lose
sleep if he loses in the early round.
“I am not the
favourite here. In fact, I will not lose sleep if I do not go far. My
goal this year is the Asian Games (in Guangzhou in November). I want to
defend my title there,” said Taufik.
The 2006 Asian Games champion said that Christensen has the best chance to go into the final following the withdrawal of Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro.
“It’s unfortunate that Sony is down with a back injury. I do not think Peter could have asked for more. He has one of the less challenging path to the final,” said Taufik.
The others in the same half of the draw with second seed Christensen are South Korean Shon Wan-ho, Indonesian Simon Santoso, China’s Chen Jin and Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.
The 33-year-old Christensen is hoping to become only the third Dane to win the world title after Flemming Delfs (1977, Malmo) and Peter Rasmussen (1997, Glasgow).
Fifth seed Taufik is in the other half of the draw with top seed Chong Wei, third seed Lin Dan, Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, Bao Chunlai of China and Park Sung-hwan of South Korea.
“It is really quite heavy at the top. Lin Dan is the favourite but I am sure Chong Wei will not give in easily this time,” he said.
Taufik, who has Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsin in his path in the second round, may play against Chong Wei in the quarter-finals.
On why he chose to give the Asian Games more preference than the world championships, the 2005 world champion said: “It is not that I do not have the desire to win the world title again. I just feel that hosting the world championships every year except for the Olympic year is a big mistake.
“It takes the prestige away. Lin Dan may win the world title again this year but I will not look at it as a big achievement.
“Yang Yang (of China) won it twice when the championships were a biennial affair and to me, that is even more meaningful. The Asian Games is held every four years and it will more prestigious to win that title.”
Taufik has been one of the strong advocates against the Badminton World Federation (BWF) move to host the world meet annually since 2005.
“It is not too late for the BWF to make it a prestigious event again. If not, players may in future even choose not to take part. Winning a world title just feels like winning another Open title,” he said.
This is Indonesian Taufik Hidayat’s assessment on the contenders for the world championship men’s singles title. And where does this leave the former world champion?
Cool rebel:
Indonesia’s former world champion Taufik Hidayat says he won’t lose
sleep if he loses in the early round. The 2006 Asian Games champion said that Christensen has the best chance to go into the final following the withdrawal of Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro.
“It’s unfortunate that Sony is down with a back injury. I do not think Peter could have asked for more. He has one of the less challenging path to the final,” said Taufik.
The others in the same half of the draw with second seed Christensen are South Korean Shon Wan-ho, Indonesian Simon Santoso, China’s Chen Jin and Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.
The 33-year-old Christensen is hoping to become only the third Dane to win the world title after Flemming Delfs (1977, Malmo) and Peter Rasmussen (1997, Glasgow).
Fifth seed Taufik is in the other half of the draw with top seed Chong Wei, third seed Lin Dan, Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, Bao Chunlai of China and Park Sung-hwan of South Korea.
“It is really quite heavy at the top. Lin Dan is the favourite but I am sure Chong Wei will not give in easily this time,” he said.
Taufik, who has Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsin in his path in the second round, may play against Chong Wei in the quarter-finals.
On why he chose to give the Asian Games more preference than the world championships, the 2005 world champion said: “It is not that I do not have the desire to win the world title again. I just feel that hosting the world championships every year except for the Olympic year is a big mistake.
“It takes the prestige away. Lin Dan may win the world title again this year but I will not look at it as a big achievement.
“Yang Yang (of China) won it twice when the championships were a biennial affair and to me, that is even more meaningful. The Asian Games is held every four years and it will more prestigious to win that title.”
Taufik has been one of the strong advocates against the Badminton World Federation (BWF) move to host the world meet annually since 2005.
“It is not too late for the BWF to make it a prestigious event again. If not, players may in future even choose not to take part. Winning a world title just feels like winning another Open title,” he said.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 4:26 PM.
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