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Chong Wei takes three games to get past Dane

PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei is, as usual, the sole Malaysian flag-bearer in the men’s singles event after the first round of the US$1.2mil South Korea Open badminton championships in Seoul yesterday.

Chong Wei overcame a jittery start to survive a strong challenge from Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark before prevailing 21-9, 18-21, 21-16 in 54 minutes.

He will take on South Korea’s Park Sung-hwan in a last-16 match that is expected to go down to the wire.
Sung-hwan needed just 31 minutes to blow away Wacha Przemyslaw of Poland 21-14, 21-10.
National coach Rashid Sidek has warned Chong Wei to brace himself against two enemies – Sung-hwan and probably also the linesmen.
“It is normal for Chong Wei to get off to a slow start. It is not because he is tired after winning the Super Series Masters Finals and Malaysia Open. He is just getting used to the new environment,” said Rashid.

”I am confident that he will get better with every match.
“Chong Wei has a good record against Sung-hwan but he should not take it for granted.

“The Korean has home ground advantage. In his previous outing in Korea, the linesmen made some dubious calls. Hopefully, Chong Wei will not be distracted. He needs to stay cool all time.”
Malaysia two other singles players in the BWF World Super Series Premier event – Mohd Hafiz Hashim and Wong Choong Hann – crashed out yesterday.


The Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) decision to allow Hafiz to leave the national team proved to be a wise one when the shuttler went down tamely 16-21, 13-21 to Germany’s Marc Zwiebler.
Hafiz used to be a class above Zwiebler but yesterday’s defeat showed that he has lost his sting and is unable to justify his position as the country’s second ranked player.

The South Korea Open is the last tournament for Hafiz under the BAM banner.
He will become an independent player effective Feb 1 and it looks like it is going to be very hard for him to qualify for the London Olympic Games next year.

It was also the end of road for Dunlop-sponsored Choong Hann, who lost 9-21, 17-21 to world champion Chen Jin of China.
In the women’s singles, Wong Mew Choo put up a strong showing to march into the second round with a 21-18, 21-15 win over Chinese youngster Liu Xin.

Mew Choo’s reward is a date with top seed Wang Xin of China today.
She lost to Wang Xin in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open last week.
But Mew Choo had vowed after the defeat that she would get even with the world No. 1 when they meet again. Today, she will have a chance to walk the talk.


Results
MEN
Singles (First round): Wang Zhengming (Chn) bt Kazushi Yamada (Jpn) 21-14, 21-13; Chen Long (Chn) bt Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) 21-11, 18-21, 21-10; Kenichi Tago (Jpn) bt Shon Wan-ho (Kor) 22-24, 21-15, 21-12; Bao Chunlai (Chn) bt Carl Baxter (Eng) 21-13, 21-7; Du Pengyu (Chn) bt Dicky Palyama (Hol) 21-23, 21-15, 21-17; Rajiv Ouseph (Eng) bt Hu Yun (Hkg) 21-16, 21-17; Simon Santoso (Ina) bt Boonsak Ponsana (Tha) 21-16, 21-14; Marc Zwiebler (Ger) bt Mohd Hafiz Hashim (Mas) 21-16, 21-13; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 21-15, 21-15; Wong Wing Ki (Hkg) bt Brice Leverdez (Fra) 20-22, 21-17, 21-16; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 21-9, 18-21, 21-16; Chen Jin (Chn) bt Wong Choong Hann (Mas) 21-9, 21-17; Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (Ina) 21-17, 21-10; Park Sung-hwan (Kor) bt Wacha Przemyslaw (Pol) 21-14, 21-10; Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Sho Sasaki (Jpn) 21-12, 10-21, 21-15; P. Kashyap (Ind) bt Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) 21-17, 21-9.
Doubles (First round): Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen (Mas) 22-20, 21-15; Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato (Jpn) bt Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How (Mas) 21-16, 22-20; Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (Chn) bt Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) 21-15, 21-15; Mads Conrad-Petersen (Den) bt Guo Zhengdong-Chai Biao (Chn) 21-14, 21-17; Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) bt Luluk Hadiyanto-Candra Wijaya (Ina) 21-14, 21-18; Robert Blair-Flandi Limpele (Sco-Ina) bt Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano (Ina) 21-12, 22-20; Fang Chieh-min-Lee Sheng-mu (Tpe) bt Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) 21-10, 21-13; Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan (Chn) bt Goh Wei Shem-Teo Kok Siang (Mas) 21-13, 21-18; Chris Adcock-Andrew Ellis (Eng) bt Yoshiteru Hirobe-Kenta Kazuno (Jpn) 21-17, 21-18: Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt A. Songphon-Sudket Prapakamol (Tha) 21-16, 21-15; Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Ong Soon Hock (Mas) bt Ingo Kindervater-Johannes Schoettler (Ger) 21-13, 20-22, 21-18; Hong Wei-Shen Ye (Chn) bt Michael Fuchs-Oliver Roth (Ger) 21-12, 21-8; Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan (Ina) bt Chen Hung-ling-Lin Yu-lang (Tpe) 21-9, 22-20; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Cho Gun-woo-Kwon Yi-goo (Kor) 21-11, 21-17; Kim Ki-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Kor) bt Xu Chen-Zhang Nan (Chn) 14-21, 21-13, 21-14; Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae (Kor) bt Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan (US) 21-15, 21-11.


(Matches involving Malaysians)
Women’s singles: Wong Mew Choo bt Liu Xin (Chn) 21-18, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: He Hanbin-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying 21-17, 21-12.

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