The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Chong Wei eyes Macau Open crown after Lin Dan’s withdrawal
- When China felt like home for Chong Wei
- As usual – national hockey team in must-win situation
| Chong Wei eyes Macau Open crown after Lin Dan’s withdrawal Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:12 PM PST By RAJES PAUL PETALING JAYA: Four-time world champion Lin Dan has withdrawn from tomorrow's Macau Open, leaving Malaysia's world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei with the chance to gun down his eighth Open title of the season. Chong Wei has decided to stick with his plan to compete in his 13th international Open of the year and win the Macau Open crown for the third time in a row. In Chong Wei's top half are two youngsters from China – Wang Zhengming and Du Pengyu; three Indonesians – Simon Santoso, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka; South Korean Shon Wan-ho; Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki and a host of Malaysians – reigning world junior champion Zulfadli Zulkifli, Beryno Wong, Liew Daren and Goh Soon Huat. Chong Wei has a tricky first round date with Thailand's upcoming youngster Suppanyu Avihingsanon but his real threat could be either Simon or Wang. Without favourite Lin Dan, who won back-to-back titles in the Hong Kong and China Opens, the fight for a ticket to the final from the bottom half of the draw will be among South Korea's Lee Hyun-il, Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat and Tommy Sugiarto; Japan's Kenichi Tago and several Malaysian players led by former international Mohd Hafiz Hashim. Former All-England champion Hafiz, who is now playing under the KLRC banner, is hoping to turn in a good showing to earn a place in Malaysia's Thomas Cup Finals squad. Currently, besides Chong Wei, no other back-up players have proved their worth for a place in the premier world team event. "Lin Dan will not be around and that is good news. "He has pocketed two titles in the last two weeks and he can afford to take a rest. "I will give my best to earn a place in the Thomas Cup squad," said Hafiz. Hafiz takes on South Korean Lee Dong-keun in the opening round and victory will pit him against compatriot Chan Kwong Beng, who is in the second round following Lin Dan's withdrawal. Lin Dan's absence was confirmed during the team managers' meeting yesterday. The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM)'s coaching and training chairman Ng Chin Chai said he had spoken to coach Tey Seu Bock in Macau yesterday on Chong Wei's condition following his back-to-back defeats to Lin Dan in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong and China Opens. "Seu Bock gave an assurance that Chong Wei is not suffering from fatigue. The coach should know best about his player's condition and the green light has been given for Chong Wei to continue playing," said Chin Chai. With the turn of events in Macau yesterday, it looks like badminton fans will only get one more chance to witness a clash between Lin Dan and Chong Wei this season when the duo renew their rivalry in the Super Series Masters Finals, which will be held in Liuzhou, China, from Dec 14-18. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| When China felt like home for Chong Wei Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:12 PM PST SHANGHAI: Lee Chong Wei certainly enjoys playing in China where he has a legion of fans. The semi-final clash between Chong Wei and his nemesis Lin Dan in the China Open last Saturday proved again that the world No. 1 is a respected badminton icon in China despite the fact that Lin Dan overshadows his rival with a long list of accolades. During the match, a huge crowd of Chinese fans rooted for Chong Wei. In some crucial points when the Malaysian shuttler was trailing, some fans even urged him on. The non-partisan crowd who did not show full support for their own players puzzled China's chief coach Li Yongbo. When Lin Dan led 19-17 in the first game, many fans began cheering Chong Wei on and this appeared to upset the Chinese ace as he gave away four straight points and lost 19-21. Lin Dan told reporters that he was upset that he and his team-mates did not enjoy home advantage when playing in China. And that this sometimes affected their game. "Maybe Chinese fans are more broadminded with a sense of fairplay. "But when we play in Indonesia and Malaysia, their crowds always support the home players and make it difficult for us," he said. Lin Dan joked that if the Shanghai crowd continued to show less support for their own players, the Chinese Badminton Association would consider changing the venue of the tournament. The semi-final ended with Lin Dan eventually beating Chong Wei 19-21, 21-12, 21-11 in 75 minutes. The China star went on to claim his sixth title of the year. Lin Dan emphasised that he was quite happy with the sporting nature of the Chinese fans. "I think our fans are quite adorable. "Many of them may not know that we face a lot of pressure from the home crowd whenever we play overseas. "I know many fans gave Chong Wei a lot of support in our match. But I don't mind it at all because everyone has his own favourite player," he said. "Chong Wei is different from other players. "He has maintained the World No. 1 ranking for a long time and only someone with extraordinary ability can do that. "He brings out the best in me. I work harder whenever I play Chong Wei as he is extremely difficult to beat." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| As usual – national hockey team in must-win situation Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:12 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR: It is a situation the national hockey team invariably find themselves in when they have a slow start to a tournament and it is no different at the on-going Champions Challenge I in Johannesburg. The team have to, once again, deal with a must-win situation against Argentina today after digging a hole for themselves with shoddy performances in their two earlier matches. While all eight teams will figure in the quarterfinals, the Malaysians are last in Group B with one point and a draw or defeat against the South Americans will see them face the top teams in Group A in the cross-over matches. While a win is not likely to give them the top spot, as they have an inferior goal difference to Argentina, they need to finish second or third in Group B. Canada and Japan, who meet in an earlier match, have a chance to finish at the top as well. The Malaysians have turned in some insipid performances. There is no doubt they can play better but what is worrying is they are still displaying all the weaknesses identified previously. This is alarming as in four months' time they will be playing in the all important Olympic qualifiers in Ireland. Given their disappointing showing against Canada (1-3) and Japan (2-2), the Malaysians have a mountain to climb. Malaysia are trying hard to get back into the Olympics after falling at the qualifiers for Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Their last outing in the Olympics was in Sydney 2000. Team manager George Koshy said he expects the team to perform better now that they have had two matches under their belt. "Argentina are a good side, well balanced, with several experienced players in their ranks. But they I believe they are beatable. They drew with Japan and had to come from behind to beat Canada. We will have to take the game to them if we are to upset them," he said. Koshy conceded that even if they won there was no certainty they would avoid India or Belgium, the big guns in Group A. "To be realistic we are looking at third place even if we beat Argentina. Of course that could change if Canada and Japan play to a draw. "We have to improve on our performance and win the last match to boost our confidence. We must be prepared to face any team in the last eight," he said. Koshy added that the team's slow starts to tournaments and matches were a worrying trend. "This is something we must overcome before the Olympic qualifiers. We had a talk with the players and they realise that it isn't good to put themselves under a lot of pressure by playing catch-up. We could have done with the two friendly matches before the tournament but rain spoilt it for us. Still, it's not an excuse and the problem has to be rectified," he said. Koshy also said that the coaches have taken great pains to rectify the weaknesses. "They have really been working very hard so we are stumped that the players are making the same mistakes. You can tell them and also show them the match video but it isn't getting through yet," he explained. Argentina play a well organised game and do not give up easily. Their penalty corner batteries are also one of the best in the game. Their coaches Pablo and Jorge Lombi were top players and know how to prepare the team. So unless the Malaysians raise their game they may well end up on the losing end and dig themselves into a deeper hole. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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