World champion withdraws from Singapore Open with calf injury

Press Trust of India

Singapore, August 21

World badminton champion Xia Xuanze of China pulled out of the Singapore Open today with a calf injury - leaving the bottom half of the draw without a clear favourite.
"It's the left calf. I can't walk properly... I don't really remember how I managed to finish the match," said Xia of the injury he suffered in the second round against Malaysia's Ong Ewe Hock.

Xia said he felt a slight twinge midway through the second set and a pull at 4-4 in the deciding third set, but still managed a 15-8, 12-15, 15-12 win.

"I'm really disappointed. This is a high quality tournament," he said.

He may pull out of next week's Indonesian Open on Batam island. Last month, Xia won the world championships in Birmingham, England.

His withdrawal gives unseeded Peter Gade of Denmark his best chance of winning a tournament since the US Open last year. The former All-England champion is desperately trying to earn enough ranking points to qualify for the Athens Olympics next year.

"I missed the last two Singapore Opens due to injury and it is now a very different situation for me," said Gade.

"My rankings have slipped and because I am usually unseeded, I tend to meet the good players in the early rounds."

Gade upset second seed and compatriot Kenneth Jonassen 15-3 15-12 early today.

how does this work? does Ong E.W. get to play on?

No, Ong does not get to play in Xia's spot. Xia just withdrew and his opponent advances due to walkover.

We were there to witness the match. The M'sian, Ong Ewe Hock, gave a surprisingly good account of himself to force the rubber and would have won had he been more aggressive with his smashes as Xia had slowed down visibly. Xia, being the kind of championship stuff he is made of, never showed any pain or discomfort nor did he give up the fight and in fact, he was the one who attacked more to gain the points and won the match eventually at 15-8, 12-15 and 15-12.

This calf injury is of course a setback to his aspiration of winning the Open. But he is determined to have a quick recovery.

Actually, we almost suffered other kinds of injury to ourselves. The days proceedings were a marathon, starting from 9 am and ending past 3 am the next morning! Never have I sat through such a torturing exercise and some of us suffered from the flu and blurred vision due to the lack of sleep.

But, being a badminton nut, I will not miss this evening's Quarter Finals. Our local boy, Ronald Susilo, will be pitted against Chen Hong once again and let's hope he will fare much better than last year's Finals, when he was completely outclassed by Chen. I will be surprised if Ronald can take a game off Chen this time as Chen is in peak condition as he has displayed during his titanic match with Mohd. Hafiz in the First Round, the entire proceedings of which I had the fortune to watch.

Denmark has both it's highs and lows. Fifth seed Anders Boesen had to retire in the first game against Lin Dan of China yesterday due to a back injury. Whereas unseeded Peter Gade proceeded to the QF by beating compatriot Peter Rasmussen in the 3rd Round and another countryman, Kenneth Jonassen, in the 2nd Round, 15-3 abd 15-12. Gade now represents Denmark's only hope to win the title. He is in pretty good shape now and certainly has an equal chance as any body.

I can't say the same for the poor Malaysians because all of its singles players were eliminated. Only Ewe Hock showed that he had a chance when he almost beat Xia and Hafiz was good but lost to an in-form Chen. Only one men's doubles pair managed to enter this evening's QF!

Sorry some of these great matches will never be televised. But I hope the rest of the Finals will.

Loh, thanks for the excellent reports from the "fields"... i look forward to reading the next edition and seeing the BF gang pictures! :)