Skip to main content

Chong Wei's title to lose

Misbun Sidek (left) hugs Lee Chong Wei after his 21-9, 21-15 win over Kenichi Tago on
Misbun Sidek (left) hugs Lee Chong Wei after his 21-9, 21-15 win over Kenichi Tago on

WORLD No 1 Lee Chong Wei is on course for his fourth title of 2009 after a masterful performance while it was the end of the road for veteran Wong Choong Hann in the Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold men's singles semi-finals at the Johor Baru City Council Indoor Stadium yesterday.

And Chong Wei will get a chance to exact revenge on China's Chen Long, who defeated the Malaysian in the first round of the India Open in March, in the final today.

As for Wong Mew Choo, her career could hit rock bottom after her unexpected defeat to China qualifier Wang Xin in the women's semi-finals.

Wang Xin, 24, who just recently joined China's national team, is competing in her first Open tournament.

Chong Wei, who has won the Malaysia, Swiss and Indonesia Open titles this year, thrashed Hong Kong's Hu Yun 21-9, 21-8 in only 20 minutes.
In the first game, Chong Wei raced to a 14-3 lead before winning 21-9 in 11 minutes. The Malaysian maintained his momentum and won the second 21-8 to advance to the final.

"I didn't expect to win so easily today (yesterday). He is quite a dangerous player but I prepared well for this encounter. I was physically and mentally prepared and played a fast game and my opponent failed to read my style," said Chong Wei.

Chong Wei is also confident of getting the better of Chen Long in the final.

"It should not be a problem. I was not feeling well in India and I don't want to think about it now.

"The singles title is important to Malaysian fans and I will try my best to win my fourth title here," he said.

Chen Long, a former World and Asian junior champion, turned in a precision performance to overcome Choong Hann 21-10, 21-16.

"I'm really excited about the final. Though I defeated Chong Wei in India, he will be the favourite here.

"My problem is that I'm inconsistent during crucial stage of tournaments. I'm still learning and I hope to give a good account in the final," said Chen Long, a runner-up in the Asian Championships in Suwon.

Mew Choo, after her shock 21-18, 21-14 defeat to Wang Xin yesterday, admitted that her game is deteriorating but promised to train harder for the World Championships.

"I admit my game is not good. I'm currently low in confidence, skills and court control. I'm not strong mentally. However, I have more than a month before the world meet to work on my game. I hope I can get back to my former self," said Mew Choo.

The 24-year-old Wang Xin faces another China qualifier Wang Shixian, who upset top seed Pi Hongyan 21-14, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

NST

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Badminton: Fans rooting for all-Malaysian semis

Reports: RAJES PAUL KUALA LUMPUR: The home fans will be rooting for an all-Malaysian men’s singles semi-final between Lee Chong Wei and Liew Daren. But Chong Wei is more fancied to advance than Daren in quarter-final matches against Indonesian Simon Santoso and Dane Peter Gade-Christensen respectively at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil today. Yesterday, Chong Wei defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh 21-9, 18-21, 21-7 in a second-round match that saw the world number one struggling to adapt to the draught in the stadium in the second game. And Daren continued a fairy tale run in his home Open, blowing away a toothless Hsueh Hsuan-yi of Taiwan 21-14, 21-12. Although Choong Wei had to slog for the win over Tien Minh, the top seed and defending champion felt that he was playing better by the day. “I got off to a good start but found it hard to cope with the draught. I tried to catch up after losing my momentum but that did not happen and I decided to conserve energy for ...
11 comments
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more