YONEX All England Open Super Series 2010: Champions lead Malaysia's charge

Chong Wei, who won last December’s World Super Series Masters Finals title and followed that with wins at the season opening Korea Open and last week’s Malaysia Open, has been invincible in the absence of three-time world champion Lin Dan.

Lin Dan, however, is expected to compete in the All England, and by virtue of being the top two seeds, both players are only expected to clash in the final.

Chong Wei has often been outplayed by the mercurial left hander from China but the former’s coach, Misbun Sidek, is confident that the Malaysian will be ready for the challenge in Birmingham.

In fact, Misbun has even got Chong Wei playing left-handed players on a regular basis in training as simulation for the task ahead.

“It is not the same as playing Lin Dan but it will help Chong Wei to prepare for the match,” said Misbun.

“More importantly, Chong Wei must also stay focused when playing Lin Dan as it is important to be physically and mentally ready to play the Chinese.”

The All England Open Badminton Championships, into its 100^th championships this year, is the third leg of the BWF World Super Series circuit and will be followed by the Swiss Open in Basel on 16-21 March.

Joining Chong Wei in the singles department will be former All England winner Mohd Hafiz Hashim, who incidentally was the last Malaysian player to win the singles title, Wong Choong Hann, Chong Wei Feng, Tan Chun Seang, Yeoh Kay Bin and Pei Wee Chung.

Choong Hann, Wee Chung and Kay Bin are playing as independents.

In the doubles category, newly crowned Malaysia Open champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, winners of the All England title in 2007, will be the sole men’s doubles pair entered for the competition from Malaysia.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 8:42 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0