Chong Wei gets favourable draw for All-England

[ants]

TheStar

Lee Chong Wei will be Malaysia's best bet for honours in the All-England this week.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia can pin their hopes on national number one Lee Chong Wei returning home with the All-England badminton title.

In the draw released yesterday for the tournament, which begins in Birmingham on Wednesday, Chong Wei, 22, managed to avoid players from China in his path to the semi-finals. He has been drawn in the same quarter as second seed Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark.

The others in the quarter are three other Malaysians – Lee Tsuen Seng, Mohd Roslin Hashim and Kuan Beng Hong – and Anders Boesen of Denmark.

The seventh seeded Chong Wei is expected to face Gade-Christensen, the Korean Open champion in the quarter-finals.

He beat the world number two Dane in two tournaments last year – the Malaysian Open (third round) and Singapore Open (quarter-finals).

And a place in the semi-finals should give the Penangite a match against one of three Chinese players – fourth seed Chen Hong, fifth seed Bao Chunlai and world junior champion Chen Jin.

Chong Wei lost to Chen Hong in the last two tournaments – at the Athens Olympics and Indonesian Open last year. He has beaten Chunlai in all three meetings and has never played against Chen Jin.

Wong Choong Hann and 2003 All-England champion Mohd Hafiz Hashim do not have a favourable draw.

Both of them are in the top half of the draw which has top seed and defending champion Lin Dan of China, Athens Olympics champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and Singapore Open champion Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark.

The 22-year-old Hafiz and Choong Hann are expected to play against Jonassen and Taufik respectively in the third round.

However, Taufik is a doubtful starter. He has threatened to withdraw from the Indonesian team following a dispute with chief coach Icuk Sugiarto over the monetary reward for winning the Olympic gold medal.

Malaysia's chances of winning honours in the men's doubles are slim indeed.

Choong Tan Fook-Chew Choon Eng will play against third seed Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun of China in the second round. Both pairs receive first-round byes.

Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat, who are targeted to win a medal in the Doha Asian Games next year, are likely to face seventh seed Sang Yang-Zheng Bo in the third round.

The last time Malaysia won the All-England doubles title was in 1982 through the Sidek brothers, Razif and Jalani.

[wl2172]

Based on current form. I expect Lee CW to enter the finals for the All England. If he can improve on his consistency, he will be virtually unbeatable. However, he often lacks the instinct to finish off at the end of the match. That's how he handed the Singapore Open title to Kenneth.

[hcyong]

Based on current form. I expect Lee CW to enter the finals for the All England. If he can improve on his consistency, he will be virtually unbeatable. However, he often lacks the instinct to finish off at the end of the match. That's how he handed the Singapore Open title to Kenneth.

Except that there's the simple obstacle by the name of Peter Gade looming in his quarter and another easy one by the name of Bao Chunlai in his half. I would give Lee CW as fair a chance as Peter and Bao Chunlai. So that's one third of a chance, and even that's discounting Chen Hong and Chen Jin in the same half. No doubt Lee CW has the ability to advance to the final, but with this sort of competition, it's a bit like the lottery also.

[wl2172]

Except that there's the simple obstacle by the name of Peter Gade looming in his quarter and another easy one by the name of Bao Chunlai in his half. I would give Lee CW as fair a chance as Peter and Bao Chunlai. So that's one third of a chance, and even that's discounting Chen Hong and Chen Jin in the same half. No doubt Lee CW has the ability to advance to the final, but with this sort of competition, it's a bit like the lottery also.

Agreed...a bit of luck and we shall see.

[Morten]

Lee has been in a good progress and doesnt lack consistency as he did before, but today he used three sets to beat Dicky palayma and was close to be beaten. I exoect him to play good but i still find thatGade and Bao are the favourites in this half. I expect a lot of Gade and looks forward to see him in action, if he plays like he did in the masters he may find himself on top of the podium once again

[prince_user]

Hope he does well.