Desperate Hafiz sweats it out despite fasting month
News 5:02 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: It's the fasting month but national shuttler Mohd Hafiz Hashim (pic) is going the extra mile to get back on track in the race for a place in the Beijing Olympics.
Hafiz does not want history to repeat itself and he is strengthening up with physical training at night.
Hafiz does not want history to repeat itself and he is strengthening up with physical training at night.
He failed in his bid to get to the 2004 Athens Olympics after failing to snap out of a string of poor performances.
The 25-year-old Hafiz is now in danger of missing the cut as well for the Beijing Games. He has crashed out in the early rounds of every Open tournament since a semi-final appearance in the Korean Open in January.
A country can have two representatives if they are among the top 16 in the world rankings in May. A maximum of three is allowed if all of them are among the top four.
Hafiz is now in 19th spot and there are three Malaysian players in front of him – Lee Chong Wei (No. 3), Lee Tsuen Seng (No. 17) and Wong Choong Hann (No. 18).
He has two upcoming tournaments to haul himself back among the top 16 – the Open in Denmark (Oct 23-28) and France (Oct 30-Nov 2), which are the ninth and 10th leg of the Super Series.
“My chance to feature in the Olympics does not look good at the moment. I do not want to suffer the agony of having to sit out another Olympics and I have to somehow get among to top 16 again,” said Hafiz, who has virtually no good results to shout about since winning the All-England title in 2003.
“It is not easy to train and fast at the same time. But I am trying to do it. I need to improve on my physical fitness and have to do some extra training by myself at night.”
In the previous two international tournaments, Hafiz ran out of steam against Chong Wei in the opening round of the Japan Open and against Indonesian Taufik Hidayat in the third round of the Taiwan Open.
PLAYERS FOR DANISH AND FRENCH OPENS
Men's singles: Lee Chong Wei, Lee Tsuen Seng, Wong Choong Hann, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Mohd Roslin Hashim, Yeoh Kay Bin, Sairul Amar Ayob, Pei Wei Chung.
Men's doubles: Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah.
Women's singles: Wong Mew Choo.
Women's doubles: Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, Lim Pek Siah-Haw Chiou Hwee.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 5:02 PM.
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