Badminton: Chong Wei under the microscope

KUALA LUMPUR: The Singapore Open badminton championships starting tomorrow will be treated as a testing ground for national number one Lee Chong Wei ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Although Chong Wei is the top seed, coach Misbun Sidek said yesterday that winning the title in Singapore or at the Indonesian Open the following week should not be the priority. The two tournaments are the last two major international events before the Beijing Games.

“I want to monitor his form, fitness level and also his mental strength. He had a good outing in the Thomas Cup Finals last month and I want to see him improve on his game further. He has to find out what are the weaknesses that needs to be rectified before the Olympics,” said Misbun.

The Singapore-bound players gathered at the Proton Plant in Puchong yesterday morning before leaving by bus for the republic.

Misbun added that they had yet to confirm Chong Wei’s participation in the Indonesian Open scheduled for June 17-22.

“It will depend on his form in Singapore. If he does well and go all the way to the final, I will withdraw him from the Indonesian Open. But if it is an early exit, then we need to go to Indonesia because he needs the matches to fine tune his game,” he said.

In Singapore, Chong Wei will open his campaign against Japan’s Sho Sasaki. In his half of the draw are Olympic-bound Wong Choong Hann, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Denmark’s Peter Gade-Christensen and China’s Chen Yu.

In the doubles, the two Olympic-bound pairs of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong have withdrawn because of injuries. And national chief coach Yap Kim Hock said that both pair would also not feature in the Indonesian Open.

Kim Hock added that Kien Keat had been told to rest for 10 days before any decision was made on his condition.

“He suffered cuts on his hand and they needed 20 stitches. It is important that he recovers soon and get ready for the Beijing Games.”

Posted by Lucas Liau on 2:25 PM. Filed under Lee Chong Wei, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0