ants
01-03-2006, 09:28 PM
4th Jan TheStar
PETALING JAYA: There can only be five men in the 10-member Malaysian badminton team for the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Melbourne from March 15-26.
And with limited places at stake this time, the top men's shuttlers certainly cannot afford to stumble when they compete in the season-opening World Grand Prix circuit tournament – the Swiss Open, beginning in Basel today.
The Swiss Open is the first of three back-to-back European tournaments. The German Open will be held next week followed by the prestigious All-England (Jan 17-22).
And prior to the Commonwealth Games, the national men's team will be involved in the Thomas Cup qualifying tournament in India from Feb 13-19.
The Commonwealth Games have a mixed team competition and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have to submit the names of their five men and five women to the Olympic Council of Malaysia by Feb 3.
National chief coach Yap Kim Hock said that they had yet to decide on their line-up for the Commonwealth Games but performances in the Swiss Open and All-England would certainly carry weight towards selection.
“There are only five places (for men) in the team this time compared to seven previously. We have to make sure that those selected will achieve the three-gold target,” he said.
Malaysia have the option to either have two singles and three doubles players in the team or name one singles player and two doubles pairs.
The top Chinese and Indonesian players are giving the Swiss Open a skip and Kim Hock is looking at his singles players to rise to the occasion.
“It will be a good start to the year if we can defend the men's singles title won by Mohd Hafiz Hashim last year,” said Kim Hock.
“The All-England will also be one of our main targets this year but the field will be stronger. The one-week preparation in England (the top men's shuttlers will not compete in the German Open) before the start of the championships will be crucial to our title hopes.”
Wong Choong Hann will play a crucial role towards Malaysian badminton team's hopes of bagging the first title of the year.
He is expected to play against South Korean Lee Hyun-il and victory could give an all-Malaysian semi-final against top seed Lee Chong Wei.
Hafiz is in the other half of the draw, which has second seed Peter-Gade Christensen.
The Dane holds a slight edge over Hafiz, having beaten him in straight games en route to winning his sixth Copenhagen Masters title last month.
The men's doubles field will also see the absence of the top pairs from China and Indonesia and the Malaysian number one, Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat, will be involved in a keen tussle with four other pairs to win places in the team for the Commonwealth Games.
Chong Ming-Kien Keat are the second seeds behind Danes Carsten Mogensen-Mathias Boe and the competition will be an early test of their ability to fight for honours in Melbourne.
They are drawn to meet English top ranked pair Anthony Clark-Robert Blair in the second round.
If they beat the English pair, they have a good chance of advancing to the semi-finals where they are likely to face China's Sang Yang-Zheng Bo.
National Grand Prix Finals champions Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Lin Woon Fui are seeded fifth and their biggest test should come in the quarter-finals against Mogensen-Boe.
PETALING JAYA: There can only be five men in the 10-member Malaysian badminton team for the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Melbourne from March 15-26.
And with limited places at stake this time, the top men's shuttlers certainly cannot afford to stumble when they compete in the season-opening World Grand Prix circuit tournament – the Swiss Open, beginning in Basel today.
The Swiss Open is the first of three back-to-back European tournaments. The German Open will be held next week followed by the prestigious All-England (Jan 17-22).
And prior to the Commonwealth Games, the national men's team will be involved in the Thomas Cup qualifying tournament in India from Feb 13-19.
The Commonwealth Games have a mixed team competition and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have to submit the names of their five men and five women to the Olympic Council of Malaysia by Feb 3.
National chief coach Yap Kim Hock said that they had yet to decide on their line-up for the Commonwealth Games but performances in the Swiss Open and All-England would certainly carry weight towards selection.
“There are only five places (for men) in the team this time compared to seven previously. We have to make sure that those selected will achieve the three-gold target,” he said.
Malaysia have the option to either have two singles and three doubles players in the team or name one singles player and two doubles pairs.
The top Chinese and Indonesian players are giving the Swiss Open a skip and Kim Hock is looking at his singles players to rise to the occasion.
“It will be a good start to the year if we can defend the men's singles title won by Mohd Hafiz Hashim last year,” said Kim Hock.
“The All-England will also be one of our main targets this year but the field will be stronger. The one-week preparation in England (the top men's shuttlers will not compete in the German Open) before the start of the championships will be crucial to our title hopes.”
Wong Choong Hann will play a crucial role towards Malaysian badminton team's hopes of bagging the first title of the year.
He is expected to play against South Korean Lee Hyun-il and victory could give an all-Malaysian semi-final against top seed Lee Chong Wei.
Hafiz is in the other half of the draw, which has second seed Peter-Gade Christensen.
The Dane holds a slight edge over Hafiz, having beaten him in straight games en route to winning his sixth Copenhagen Masters title last month.
The men's doubles field will also see the absence of the top pairs from China and Indonesia and the Malaysian number one, Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat, will be involved in a keen tussle with four other pairs to win places in the team for the Commonwealth Games.
Chong Ming-Kien Keat are the second seeds behind Danes Carsten Mogensen-Mathias Boe and the competition will be an early test of their ability to fight for honours in Melbourne.
They are drawn to meet English top ranked pair Anthony Clark-Robert Blair in the second round.
If they beat the English pair, they have a good chance of advancing to the semi-finals where they are likely to face China's Sang Yang-Zheng Bo.
National Grand Prix Finals champions Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Lin Woon Fui are seeded fifth and their biggest test should come in the quarter-finals against Mogensen-Boe.