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Coach to withdraw top pair from Malaysian Open if Khe Wei is unfit

Doubtful pair: The participation of Malaysia’s Woon Khe Wei (left) and Vivian Hoo in the Malaysian Open depends on the doctor’s prognosis of the former’s ankle injury. Doubtful pair: The participation of Malaysia’s Woon Khe Wei (left) and Vivian Hoo in the Malaysian Open depends on the doctor’s prognosis of the former’s ankle injury.
 
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s top women’s pair Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei are out of the India Open. And they may find themselves ruled out of the Malaysian Open GP Gold from April 30-May 4 if the doctor does not give the nod for Khe Wei to take part.

Khe Wei, who only returned to action in March after recovering from a nagging knee injury, hurt her ankle during the final of the New Zealand Open last week. It resulted in the pair missing out on their first title of the year.

Although she has recovered from the ankle injury, Khe Wei-Vivian prefer to sit out the India Open and await the doctor’s green light to compete in the Malaysian Open.

“There’s still a bit of pain and I’ll consult the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, he’ll clear me for action. I hope to be able to compete in the Malaysian Open,” said Khe Wei.

Vivian also added that missing the India Open was not exactly a bad thing as it allowed them some rest and time to catch up on training after featuring in four gruelling tournaments — All-England, Swiss, Australia and New Zealand Opens.

“We’re actually quite tired after all those tournaments ... what we need right now is some rest and time to train and we’ll bounce back stronger,” said Vivian.

Women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak explained that they decided not to send Vivian-Khe Wei to the India Open because the duo had already qualified for the World Championships to be held in Guangzhou in August.

The pair were ranked 30th in the world at the start of March but a string of impressive performances since — quarter-finals in the All-England, semi-finals in the Swiss Open and final in New Zealand — have seen them climb to No. 18 in the world.

“Khe Wei is still not 100% yet, so it’s better not to push her too hard. We do not have that many women’s doubles pairs and it’s our job to protect them from injuries,” said Rosman.

“Although Khe Wei is training normally now, I may still pull them out of the Malaysian Open GP Gold if the doctor does not give her the green light to play.”

Meanwhile, the India Open has been hit by another pullout. But the withdrawal of Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro has greatly benefited young back-up shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnian Zainuddin, who was supposed to start from the qualifiers.

But, as the first reserve, the lanky shuttler has been promoted to the main draw where he will take on a qualifier in the first round today.


THE STAR

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