KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran singles shuttler Wong Choong Hann will be seeking for a quick redemption at the Denmark Open after his premature exit in Holland.

On Friday, top seed Choong Hann went down 21-12, 18-21, 15-21 to England’s Rajiv Ouseph in the quarter-finals of the Dutch Open.

He was the sole Malaysian entry in the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) Grand Prix Gold tournament in Holland.

In the Denmark Open, Choong Hann will take on China youngster Gong Weijie in the opening round and he certainly has to stay on top of his game to avoid a first-round defeat.

PETALING JAYA: For the second consecutive tournament, Malay­sian veteran Wong Choong Hann fell a win short of ending a six-year title drought.

Yesterday, the sixth seeded Choong Hann was beaten 21-11, 21-14 by Nguyen Tien Minh in the Taiwan Open men’s singles final, which saw the third seeded Vietnamese succeeding to break the rhythm of the Malaysian from the start.

A week earlier, the 33-year-old Choong Hann, who last title was at hew 2003 Taiwan Open, went down to world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei in the final of the Macau Open.

En route to the two runner-up finishes, Choong Hann, who is now an independent player, had scored upset wins over world championship runner-up Chen Jin of China in Macau and Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in Taipei.

Coming up shortly: Wong Choon Hann was beaten by Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh in the Taiwan Open final Sunday.

And his results in the two tournament may prompt the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to recall him to feature for the country in team events.

It will be no surprise if Choong Hann is named in the team for the Laos SEA Games in December and be considered for selection for the Thomas Cup Finals next year.

Choong Hann may be chosen because the back-up players have remained unimpressive in international tournaments and they are certainly not ready for the big league.

Choong Hann, who has justified the investment put in him by his sponsors, Dunlop, with his improved performances, said that he would not mind playing for Malaysia again if everything fall into place nicely.

“It will be good to play for the country in major events once again but there are contract matters that need to be looked into,” he said in a telephone interview.

Choong Hann left the BAM set-up after the Beijing Olympics last year and the last time he took part in the SEA Games was in the 2005 edition in Manila where Malaysia emerged as the men’s team champions. Malaysia were represented by the back-up team in the last Games in Korat in 2007 and returned without any title.

For the Games in Vientiane, the BAM are contemplating to send their best team led by Chong Wei, who has yet to win an individual title in the series.

Although things are looking bright for Choong Hann, the veteran was disappointed yesterday over his tame defeat by Tien Minh.

“I had the better chance of ending a six-year wait for a title in the Taiwan Open compared to Macau last week. But I did not make it happen,” he said.

“Nguyen had total control of the game. He played a tight game and did not allow me to tap for winners. He was even able to retrieve my smashes from half court and that frustrated me even more.”

Choong Hann conceded that Tien Minh, who also won the Thailand Open last month, would be one of the players to beat in the SEA Games.

“His attacking and deceptive game style has not changed much since I last played against him two years ago. But he now has more confidence in himself and that has taken his game to a higher level. He will certainly continue to give the top players a hard time,” he said.

Choong Hann will return home today and work on his preparation for the China Masters and Japan Open next month.

Meanwhile, Taiwan enjoyed a rare feat when they bagged two titles through Cheng Shao-chieh (women’s singles) and Chen Hong-ling-Lin Yu-lang (men’s doubles).

Final Results

Men’s singles: Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) bt Wong Choong Hann (Mas) 21-11, 21-14.

Men’s doubles: Chen Hong-ling-Lin Yu-lang (Tpe) bt Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama-Wong Wai Hong (Hkg) 14-21, 21-12, 21-19.

Women’s singles: Cheng Shao-chieh (Tpe) bt Bae Seung-hee (Kor) 17-21, 21-12, 21-15.

Women’s doubles: Zhang Jiewen-Yang Wei (Chn) bt Vita Marissa-Mona Santoso (Ina) 21-14, 21-9.

Mixed doubles: V. Diju-Jwala Gutta (Ind) bt Hendra Gunawan-Vita Marissa (Ina) 23-21, 21-18.

PETALING JAYA: Old hands —Mohd Hafiz Hashim and Wong Choong Hann — continued their march in the men’s singles event but it was a total wipeout for Malaysia in the men’s doubles at the Taiwan Open badminton championships yesterday.

The 27-year-old Hafiz, seeded 15th, checked into the semi-finals after clinching a convincing 21-12, 21-12 win over youngster Andre Kurniawan Tedjono of Indonesia.

He will take on Thailand Open champion and third seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam and hopes are high on him continuing his fine run.

Good run: Mohd Hafiz Hashim will face Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh in the semis Saturday

He had beaten second seed Park Sung-hwan of South Korea just a day ago and it was one of his biggest scalps this year.

Hafiz, ranked 29th in the world, is currently starting afresh and training under new singles coach Hendrawan but was modest about his chances of winning his first Open title in three years.

“I have nothing much to say except that I am just starting to play better. There is a little improvement in my game so far,” said Hafiz when contacted yesterday.

Choong Hann will take on Indonesian Taufik Hidayat in the other semi-final and it would be interesting to see whether the Malaysian veteran can maintain his good form.

Just last week, he pulled off a shocking win over China’s Chen Jin en route to reaching the final of the Macau Open but lost to compatriot Lee Chong Wei.

Yesterday, Choong Hann blew away Taiwanese Liu Chih-lin 21-7, 21-9 while Taufik clawed back from a game down to beat younger team-mate Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 19-21, 21-11, 21-18.

In the women’s singles, Lydia Cheah failed to advance after a 19-21, 9-21 loss to Japanese Sayaka Sato in the last eight.

Back-up mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying, however, was the only consolation in the doubles events after Malaysia’s campaign ended in the men’s and women’s doubles.

Peng Soon-Liu Ying marched into the semi-finals with a 21-19, 21-19 win over Indonesians Mohd Rijal-Lilyana Natsir to set up a meeting with India’s V. Diju-Jwala Gutta.

Coach Jeremy Gan said: “They played well and showed more maturity in their game. They are steadier and show more passion to win. Hopefully they will continue to build on their confidence here.”

Three men’s doubles pairs – Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Hoon Thien How-Ong Soon Hock and Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen crashed out in rubber games yesterday.

Tan Fook-Wan Wah’s rivalry against former world champions Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan continued but this time, the Americans got the upper hand with a 21-13, 15-21, 21-14 win.

RESULTS:

(All quarter-finals)

Men’s singles: Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (Ina) 19-21, 21- 11,21-18; Wong Choong Hann (Mas) bt Liu Chih-lun (Tpe) 21-7,21-9; Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) bt Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 21-19,19-21,21-4; Mohd Hafiz Hashim (Mas) bt Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (Ina) 21-12, 21-12.

Men’s doubles: Tony Gunawan-Howard Bach (USA) bt Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (Mas) 21-13, 15-21, 21-14; Hendra Gunawan-Alven Yulianto (Ina) bt Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen (Mas) 21-16, 18-21, 21-16; Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama-Wong Wai Hong (Hkg) bt Hoon Thien How-Ong Soon Hock (Mas) 15-21, 21-16, 21-18; Chen Hong-ling-Lin Yu-lang (Tpe) bt Cho Gun-woo-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) 21-15, 21-17

Women’s singles: Cheng Shao-chieh (Tpe) bt Maria Febe Kusumastuti (Ina) 21-14, 21-18; Hsu Ching-ya (Tpe) bt Salakjit Ponsana (Tha) 21-18, 22-20; Sayaka Sato (Jpn) bt Lydia Cheah (Mas) 21-19, 21-9; Bae Hee-seung (Kor) bt Yip Pui Yin (Hkg) 12-21, 21-17, 21-11.

Women’s doubles: Vita Marissa-Mona Santoso (Ina) Zhang Dan-Zhang Zhibo (Mac) 21-11,21-16; Gao Ling-Wei Yili (Chn) bt Goh Liu Ying-Ng Hui Lin (Mas) 18-21, 22-20, 21-12; Zhang Jiewen-Yang Wei (Chn) bt Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa (Ind) 21-15, 21-19; Lee Hjojung-Kim Mi-young (Kor) bt Cheng Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin (Tpe) 21-15,13-21, 21-13.

Mixed doubles: Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (Mas) bt Mohd Rijal-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) 21-19, 21-19; V. Diju-Jwala Gutta (Ind) bt Shin Baek-cheol-Yoo Hyun-young (Kor) 21-19, 21-19; Hendra Gunawan-Vita Marissa (Ina) bt Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama-Chau Hoi Wah (Hkg) 20-22, 21-15, 21-19; Tontowi Ahmad-Richi Puspita Dili (Ina) bt Han Sang-hoon-Jang Ye-na (Kor) 21-13, 22-20.

LEE Chong Wei cruised into the third round but Wong Choong Hann almost joined South Korean Park Sung-hwan on the men’s singles casualty list yesterday.

Top seed Chong Wei had a stroll in the park and took 22 minutes to beat Nigerian Ola Fagbemi 21-14, 21-11.

He will take on Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh today and national coach Misbun Sidek hopes to see his charge get past the third-round barrier. At the last World Championships two years ago, Chong Wei failed to live up to his billing and was eliminated by Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro.

“It will be an important match for Chong Wei. He knows what happened two years ago and I am sure he will not want to repeat it,” said Misbun.

“The match should favour Chong Wei. For now, he is stable and handling himself very well even though the focus and attention have been tremendous on him.

“This Vietnamese is no pushover. He will fight for every shot and it will be the first real test for Chong Wei.”

And on the overall performances of the shuttlers in the competition, Misbun said that several players, among them Peter-Gade Christensen of Denmark, China’s Lin Dan and Sony, had changed some of the techniques in their game.

“They have a different approach and have added more variety in their shots. They have certainly moved one step better in the way they are playing here. We have to be on a look out for these players,” he added.

While Chong Wei breezed into the third round, veteran Choong Hann was caught off guard by a fiery Raul Must of Estonia but fortunately his experience saw him through with a 21-12, 7-21, 21-16 win in 55 minutes.

“I have played against him before but this was certainly the toughest. After the easy win in the first game, I took him lightly,” said Choong Hann.

“But he was on form in the second game. His net play was top class and it made me quite nervous. He kept the pressure in the rubber too. For­tu­nately, I survived the critical situation.”

Choong Hann added that the tough match had warmed him up for the match against China’s Chen Jin today.

“I have lost to him twice at the Malaysian Open (2007) and the ABC (Asian Championships last year). I hope I have saved my best to play against him tomorrow,” he said.

Unlike Choong Hann, eighth seed Sung-hwan was unable to save himself, going down to a 16-21, 21-17, 15-21 defeat by Denmark’s Jan O. Jorgensen.

KUALA LUMPUR: It’s getting more challenging for seasoned campaigner Wong Choong Hann to train without a coach.

But it has not doused the fire in him from wanting to chalk up his biggest win of the year when he takes on China’s Bao Chunlai today in the second round of the Singapore Open.

Choong Hann advanced with a 21-18, 21-11 win over India’s Chetan Anand while Chunlai got an easy ride for a shot at a place in the quarter-finals when Poland’s Wacha Przemyslaw retired after losing the first game 9-21.

The 31-year-old Choong Hann said that he was seeking for a timely boost ahead of the world championships, which will be played in Hyderabad from Aug 10-16.

All set: Wong Choon Hann wants to chalk up his biggest win of the year by beating Bao Chunlai in the second round.

The former Malaysian No. 1, who left the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) stable to seek new fortunes as an independent player after the Beijing Olympics last year, will be making a fifth appearance in the world championships.

“A win against Chunlai will be a great boost to my preparations for the world championships. It will be my biggest win this year,” said Choong Hann in a telephone interview from Singapore.

“Chunlai has not played in many tournaments this year because of his old knee injury. I guess, he is also trying to gauge where he stands before the world meet. He will still be a tough opponent.”

Choong Hann added that a player could make do without a coach, especially for those with a wealth of experience but it could be difficult at times.

“It takes a lot of discipline to be able to keep a high level of play in training without a coach. I have to psyche myself up a lot. It gets harder as time goes by,” he said.

Choong Hann said that the experience playing in Europe for a club in the German League, however, had given him the confidence to continue to aspire for great things in badminton.

“The European players are very independent. They can still play without having to rely on coaches too much,” he said.

To keep him on his toes, Choong Hann has made arrangements to play with the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) players and, sometimes, with the national men’s doubles shuttlers.

“I am looking at playing good badminton for another two years. Hopefully, I will be able to do well here (Singapore Open),” he said.

Besides Choong Hann, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei also advanced to the second round after beating Andrew Smith of England 21- 11, 21-12. He will take on Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam today.

Choong Hann and Chong Wei are the only two Malaysian men’s singles players in the fray following the tame exits of Lee Tsuen Seng and Sairul Amar Ayob yesterday.

Malaysia’s challenge also ended in the women’s singles when both Wong Mew Choo and Lydia Cheah crashed out in the opening round.