Skip to main content

Chong Wei cool in defeat


LEE Chong Wei was handed a reality check in last week’s Indonesia Open but the World No 1 is confident he will bounce back from the semi-final defeat to Japan’s Kenichi Tago in upcoming priority tournaments.

The 32-year-old denied that age and fatigue were the cause of his rare loss to Tago, saying the World No 4 Japanese deserved the win.

Undeterred, the defeat has made Chong Wei even more determined as he shifts his focus to becoming champion for the first time in the World Championships in Copenhagen on Aug 25-31 and the Incheon Asian Games on Sept 19-29.

The three-time All England winner’s first target is next month’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where he should easily win his third straight gold medal.

However, the defeat to the 24-year-old Tago is a wake-up call for the ageing Malaysian, who must now work harder to remain as a contender for the Olympic title in 2016.

“I am in perfect form. I did not lose to Tago because of my physical condition. Tago was aggressive and I lost. It is normal for a shuttler to sometimes lose,” Chong Wei told www.antaranews.com on Sunday.

Chong Wei will compete in fewer tournaments to avoid injury before the Olympics. “I need to plan my tournaments. My dream is to end my career with the Olympic gold. Win or lose, I will retire in 2016,” said the 10-time Malaysian Open winner.

But injury may not be Chong Wei’s only concern ahead of the Olympics as his nemesis Lin Dan could be in Rio de Janeiro bidding for a third gold as the China ace has returned to competition full time this season.

Meanwhile, Liew Daren will start his campaign in the qualifying round of the Australian Open in Sydney today. The World No 52 opens against Australia’s Low Pit Seng. If he wins, Daren will face either compatriot Chiang Jiann Shiarng or Australian Jeff Tho for a spot in the main draw.

Zulfadli Zulkiffli is the only Malaysian in the main draw while newly crowned Indonesia Open champion Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark and Tago are the top two seeds.


NST

Comments

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...

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 ...

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...