Skip to main content

Chong Wei Dumps Hyun Il To Make Indian Open Quarter Finals

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, April 28 (Bernama) -- World number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei will face India's rising star Sourabh Verma in the quarter finals of the India Open Super Series at the Siri Fort Sports Complex after his impressive win Thursday.

After a rusty start in his opening match yesterday, Chong Wei, the top seed, weaved his magic on court against South Korea's Lee Hyun Il today, easily outplaying the latter to signal his intention of winning the elusive Indian Open title.

Chong Wei trapped a jaded Hyun IL with his neat net play and excellent drop shorts that left his rival in disarray in both sets, and needed only 31 minutes to wrap up the match 21-13, 21-17.

"There was no pressure from my opponent today. I am enjoying the Indian Open. I am preparing myself for the World Championship (in August in London)," Chong Wei told Bernama after his match here Thursday.

The All England champion who had been bogged by food poisoning and injuries during previous campaigns, will next face Sourabh, the 20-year-old Indian shuttler, who created two major upsets by dumping former Olympic bronze medallist Sony Dwi Kuncoro from Indonesia (21-18, 21-19) on Wednesday and seventh seeded Japan's Kenichi Tago 21-19, 18-21, 21-11 Thursday.

"He (Sourabh) is playing well and I am looking forward to playing against him tomorrow," added Chong Wei who won two gold medals (men's singles and team event) in the Delhi Commonwealth Games last October.

In another men's singles match today, Danish veteran Peter Hoeg Gade defeated Japan's Shao Sasaki 21-12, 21-17 to advance to the quarter finals while Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat beat India's P. Kashyap 21-17, 21-19 to book his berth.

In an earlier game, Malaysia's mixed double team, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying overpowered Indian pair Akshay Dewalkar-Pradnya Gadre 21-18, 22-24, 21-12.

The Indian Open that has become a Super Series event, offers US$200,000 (RM600,000) in prize money.

-- BERNAMA

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’

Saya setuju. We are working on more coaches! “ @ManOlimpik : Malaysian junior athletes are just too ‘lembik’ http://t.co/7D7wmHWaNy ” — Khairy Jamaluddin (@Khairykj) June 10, 2014 The benchmark. Can our junior athletes train as hard as Malaysia's world No.1 badminton player, Lee Chong Wei? “IT IS okay lah. The training is not too bad lah. I will try lah … Wah, so hard lah today.” These are some of the common statements I hear from our juniors nowadays. It is not only in badminton. It is the easy-going, laid-back attitude and lack of competitiveness at grassroots level that we have problems producing quality players. I have travelled quite a bit. After ending my decade-long career with the national team, I went to play in the league in Europe. It’s different there. The European athletes know what they want. And they do it with real focus. Even the young ones possess admirable self-control and show a high level of commitment. During my time in the ...

Organising Major Sports Events Can Inspire Sports Culture Among The People - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- Organising major sports events can help inspire sports culture among the people and ensure a healthy lifestyle said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy said the Tour of Malaysia cycling race organised since 1963, for example, can encourage more people to take the sport in a more competitive way or just for recreation purposes. "A study carried out by a world renown medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that 61 percent of adults in Malaysia do not engage themselves in active sports. "A study by the Health Ministry revealed that only 25 percent of Malaysians exercise," he said in his speech when launching the 2013 Tour of Malaysia (Jelajah Malaysia) at the Youth and Sports Ministry, here, Wednesday. "Cycling, though not as popular here as in countries like Denmark, the activity is becoming popular among the people as can be seen through an increase in sale of bicycles for recreation," he sa...

Sports press clippings on the 24 April 2008

Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (centre) speaks to athletes after giving away the Olympic qualifying incentives in Putrajaya yesterday. — Pic: RAMDZAN MASIAM Thomas Cup Equally Important, Says Ismail PUTRAJAYA, April 23 (Bernama) -- Although Malaysia want badly a badminton gold at the Beijing Olympics in August, winning the Thomas Cup in Jakarta in May is equally important, said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob. "My ministry deems all events participated by the national badminton squad as important including the Thomas Cup, which Malaysia last won in 1992. "Statements made that the Beijing Olympics takes precedence over other events is not the position of the ministry," he told reporters at his office here today. Ismail said no matter what events Malaysians competed, seeking glory for the nation should be the overriding priority. He said this when asked to comment on remarks by national badminton chief coach Yap Kim Hock on...