Taufik, Simon pull out of tourney in Alor Setar
Top News 4:50 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesians Taufik Hidayat and Simon Santoso have withdrawn from the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, which begins in Alor Setar tomorrow.
But it has not taken the shine away from the tournament as the local fans are more interested in the appearance of reigning India Open champion and world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei.
Taufik’s withdrawal was confirmed at the team manager’s meeting yesterday and, in his absence, youngster Zulfadli Zulkifli will take on Liew Daren in the opening round tomorrow.
Dark horse: South Korea’s Park Sung-hwan could play the role of a spoiler at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold.
All eyes will be on Chong Wei as he bids to enter his sixth consecutive final and win his fifth title of the year.
Except for the defeat by Lin Dan of China at the South Korea Open, the Malaysian ace has won every other tournament he has taken part in – the Super Series Masters Finals, Malaysia Open, All-England and the India Open.
On Sunday, he was taken to the distance before defeating Peter-Gade Christensen of Denmark in New Delhi.
He is the favourite to retain the men’s singles title in Alor Setar but much will depend on his physical condition, having been on his toes for the last four months.
His main challenger in the top half of the draw will be reigning world champion Chen Jin of China. The other spoilers could be Sho Sasaki of Japan and Park Sung-hwan of South Korea.
Without Taufik in the bottom half of the draw, the fight for the final ticket will be among China’s Bao Chunlai, Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, Lee Hyun-il of South Korea and Kazushi Yamada of Japan.
Nothing much is expected of Daren and the other Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) players – Mohd Syawal Mohd Ismail, Chong Wei Feng, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Tan Chun Seang, Chan Kwong Beng, Misbun Ramdan Misbun, Goh Soon Huat, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Lim Fang Yang.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 4:50 PM.
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