Skip to main content

Easy defence for Chong Wei


By K.M. Boopathyboopathy@nst.com.my

LEE Chong Wei's title defence in the World Super Series Masters looks good but South Koreans Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae will be the stumbling blocks again for Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in Johor Baru beginning Wednesday.

Chong Wei should have a field day as Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark and Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia are his strongest challengers in the Super Series Masters.

The other players who will be seeing action are Park Sung Hwan of South Korea, China's Bao Chunlai, Jan Jorgensen of Denmark, Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand and Hsieh Yu Hsin of Taiwan.

The absence of Olympic champion Lin Dan of China and his compatriot Chen Jin, as well as Indonesians Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso will surely make the Super Series Masters a dull affair but Chong Wei will not be complaining.

Lin Dan is probably the only player capable of upstaging Chong Wei at the moment and the latter can now be relieved that a second Super Series Masters title and US$40,000 (RM135,000) look assured.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong also have the good news that bogey pairs Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia and Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China are out but Jae Sung-Yong Dae will be all out to avenge their final defeat to the Malaysians last year.

Jae Sung-Yong Dae are on a high after having beaten Kien Keat-Boon Heong in all four meetings this year.

However, home ground advantage is something Kien Keat-Boon Heong will be depending on to secure the title again.

The other pairs who have secured their berths are Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark, Anthony Clark-Nathan Robertson of England, Guo Zhendong-Xu Chen of China, Indonesian pairs Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan and Yonathan Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan while the eighth pair will be Malaysia's Zakry Latif-Fairuzizuan Tazari who made it following the withdrawal of Japan's Kenichi Hayakawa-Kenta Kazuno.

Women's doubles Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui are the only other Malaysian interest in the tournament. 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

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
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