Early exit for Daren and Arif in German Open

Daren, a surprise quarter-finalist in the Malaysian Open last month, was beaten 17-21, 19-21 by Anand Pawar of India while Arif crashed to a 19-21, 22-24 defeat by Lithuania’s Kestutis Navickas.

With the world’s top shuttlers not in the fray except for China’s number three Bao Chunlai, the German Open was to be the stage for Daren and Arif to improve on their world rankings.

Singles chief coach Rashid Sidek had said that they would be given opportunities to gain qualification for the world championships in Hyderabad in August.

Daren is now ranked at No. 82 while Arif is in 65th spot.

A country can have three entries in the championships but the players have to be among the top 24 in the rankings.

It would be harder for Arif and Daren as their current positions do not give them automatic entries in Super Series tournaments.

They can only be considered for the Indian Open in March and Asian Championships in South Korea in April before the qualification period ends in May.

Another back-up player, Chong Wei Feng, was lucky to avoid the same fate as Daren and Arif in the German Open.

Wei Feng, who is ranked 52nd in the world, came back from a game down to beat Chinese qualifier Du Pengyu 19-21, 21-16, 21-14 to advance to a second round match today against German Bjoern Joppien.

A win should see him facing top seed Chunlai, who needed to go the distance to beat Belgium’s Tan Yuhan 21-9, 19-21, 21-10.

The other Malaysians joining Wei Feng in the second round are fellow back-up player Tan Chun Seang and former national players Wong Choong Hann and Yeoh Kay Bin.

Chun Seang beat Indonesian qualifier Taufiq Hidayat Akbar 21-14, 21-19 while the third seeded Choong Hann overcame Mathias Wigardt of Sweden 21-15, 21-15.

Kay Bin slogged for a 17-21, 21-15, 21-11 win over Russian Ivan Sozonoy.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 8:43 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0