Tan defeated Han Ki-hoon 21-14, 20-22, 21-15 in the opening round before knocking out Choi Ho-jin 17-21, 21-15, 21-16 but will face a stern test against China’s Du Pengyu in the first round on Wednesday.
However, Tan’s teammates, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Liew Daren failed to make any headway in the qualifying rounds.
Arif went down 18-21, 12-21 to Choi Ho-jin while Daren lost 21-10, 17-21, 12-21 to Jang Young-soo.
Malaysia’s coach Rashid Sidek paid tribute to Tan’s determination and said trhat the player had nothing to lose against Du.
“Chun Seang is determined to prove a point – especially after making a comeback to the national team. He has the skill and we hope he will continue to be focused on improving himself in training,” said Rashid to a local daily.
Malaysia’s big guns are expected to swing into action today at the Olympic Fencing Stadium with World No 1 Lee Chong Wei taking on England’s Andrew Smith while Wong Mew Choo, the surprise winner of the BWF World Super Series Masters Finals women’s singles title last month, going up against Hong Kong’s former World No 1 Zhou Mi.
Denmark’s Peter Gade will also see action in the first round with a relatively easy opener against Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng.
The Korean Open is the opening leg of the 2010 Super Series season and will be followed by the Malaysia Open next week at Putra Stadium from Jan 19-24.
Chong Wei, who lost to Peter-Gade Christensen of Denmark in the final last year, has vowed to set the record straight this time.
“The Korean Open is one of the four Super Series titles still missing from my collection. I will go all out to nail it this time after last year’s miss,” said Chong Wei.
Denmark’s Tine Rasmussen will also be hoping to get the new season underway with a bang when she takes on Japan’s Sayaka Sato in the first round.
Tine, the top seed, should negotiate the first round and will likely play another Japanese, Eriko Hirose, in the second round.
With China entering only Wang Xin and Wang Shixiang, Tine’s chances look really good for the title.
The qualifiers (all Koreans unless stated): Men’s Singles: Lee Cheol Ho, Jang Young Soo, Kim Sa Rang, Tan Chun Seang (Mas); Women’s Singles: Choi Hye In, Kang Hae Won, Joo Eun Ae, Yang Ran Sun; Mixed Doubles: Yoshiteru Hirobe-Misaki Matsumoto (Jpn), Jorrit De Ruiter-Lotte Jonathans (Ned), Jung Jae Sung-Lee Kyung Won, Kim Dae Eun-Jung Kyung Eun.
Posted by Lucas Liau
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