Skip to main content

Down to just one

 

Mixed doubles Ong Jian Guo (right) and Lim Yin Loo beat Kang Ji Wook-Shin Seug Chan 21-11, 10-21, 21-13.

MALAYSIA'S lack of depth in men's singles was cruelly exposed in the Singapore Open as Chong Wei Feng was the sole survivor after the first round at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Wei Feng was the last Malaysian to go into battle after the rest of his compatriots -- Liew Daren, Arif Latif, Tan Chun Seang and Zulfadli Zulkifli all fell like tenpins just three days after World No 1 Lee Chong Wei had defended his Indonesia Open crown in Jakarta.

Wei Feng didn't have it easy against R.M.V. Gurusaidutt of India as he toiled for a 15-21, 21-18, 21-9 win in 56 minutes.

He will play Sai Praneeth, also of India, who upset second seed Hu Yun of Hong Kong 21-9, 21-10, in the second round today.

Daren had no answer to eighth seed Wang Zhengming of China, who had made Chong Wei struggle in the first round of the Indonesia Open, as he lost 21-15, 21-18 while Arif suffered a disappointing 17-21, 21-9, 21-12 loss to Rajiv Ouseph of England.

Chun Seang, an independent shuttler, fared poorly against world junior champion Kento Momota of Japan where he suffered a 21-15, 21-9 thrashing and Zulfadli also fell by the wayside after losing 21-12, 21-12 to Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana.

The Singapore Open was the last warm-up tournament for Wei Feng and Daren before the World Championships in Guangzhou on Aug 5-11 and the indications are clear that the BA of Malaysia (BAM) can depend on Chong Wei in the major event.

In the women's singles, Sonia Cheah's campaign also came to an end when she was beaten 17-21, 21-9, 21-17 by Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea in 56 minutes.

Men's doubles Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah also crashed out in the first round after losing 21-19, 21-12 to Indonesians Hendra Setiawan-Mohammad Ahsan.

However, Ong Jian Guo-Lim Yin Loo survived in the mixed doubles after beating Kang Ji Wook-Shin Seug Chan of South Korea 21-11, 10-21, 21-13 and will take on Ahmad Tontowi-Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the second round today.

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