I agree with you, GWS is one of the better players and he should get a decent partner. But I might be biased because TWK is one of my favourite players.
Badminton: Tough task ahead THE national singles shuttlers hoping to make an impact on the Badminton Asian Championships will not have it easy after being drawn against tough opposition in the preliminary rounds of the grand prix gold event in Chengdu which begins on Tuesday. Chong Wei Feng, who won the Kuala Lumpur Open on Sunday, faces an uphill task in the first round where he meets second seed Chen Long of China. Arif Latif, who has been showing good form in the local tournaments, will have some breathing space as he will open against Sourabh Verma of India before an encounter with Australia Open champion Sho Sasaki of Japan. Chan Kwong Beng will be up against another strong China shuttler in Wen Kai while Tan Chun Seang's recent erratic form indicates he might find Hong Kong's Chan Yan Kit too hot to handle. Liew Daren is the only shuttler who could reach the third round if he can beat first-round opponent Ashton Chen of Singapore, and then Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki. However, Daren will find a huge obstacle in the shape of China's Du Pengyu in the third round. It doesn't get any easier for the men's doubles as Zakry Latif-Hoon Thien How open their campaign against Indonesia's Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan, while scratch pair Gow Wei Shem-Lim Khim Wah are also staring at an early exit against South Koreans Lee Yong Dae-Shin Baek Cheol. Fairuzizuan Tazari-Ong Soon Hock are the only pair with a chance of making the quarter-finals provided they beat first-round opponents Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan of Indonesia. A win will make life easier for them as they should play India's Jishnu Sanyal-Manu Attri in the second round and are then expected to meet China's Xu Chen-Zhang Nan in the last eight. In the women's singles, Lydia Cheah, Tee Jing Yi and Julia Wong will have to play in the qualifying rounds. While Lydia and Jing Yi should advance to the main draw, Julia may not as she will be up against Japan's rising star Minatsu Mitani in the final qualifying match.
All the best to these elite backup players... hopefully they can shine in the absence of LCW... BOLEH?
Again, the 5 musketeers are sent to the BAC. Let's see how they fare. It will be a breakthrough if more than 1 player can reach R16.
Long Chen (CHN) beat Wei Feng Chong (MAS): 21-12 22-20 I was hoping for CWF to steal a game from CL... BOLEH?
Yan Kit Chan (HK) beat Chun Seang Tan (MAS): 21-19 21-14 (30min) Not even a rubber game for TCS... still BOLEH?
CWF - Okay, expected nothing more. Not too bad. CKB - Didn't expect anything from him either TCS - Pretty disappointing Arif + GSH - Did their job. Liew Daren - Yoyo?
Surprising that he still managed to win despite being 6-13 down in the second. Anyway, this man is unpredictable, we don't know what he can do against Wong Wing Ki.
KUALA LUMPUR: National singles back-up coach Hendrawan follows instructions given to him by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) without causing any uproar. But the soft-spoken Indonesian hopes that the BAM will stop making too many changes as they will disrupt his long-term plan for the players under his charge. On Saturday, the BAM coaching and training committee decided that Misbun Sidek would be tasked to coach some of the back-up players instead of resuming duties to guide world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei. Hendrawan’s nine-member squad will be split into two groups and Misbun will coach one of them. This will be the third time that Hendrawan sees changes in his group since he was hired by the BAM two years ago. And on each occasion, he had to make changes and set new targets for the players. Hendrawan, who was back in Indonesia to attend to personal matters when the decision was made on the changes, said that he had no objection to it and would work hand-in-hand with Misbun. But he hoped that this would be the last change. “I am tasked to build a solid team to win honours at the 2014 Asian Games and 2016 Olympics but the players under my charge keep changing. It does make me tense. Hopefully, there will be no more changes,” said Hendrawan. “I have nothing against the BAM decision and have a good working relationship with Misbun. I will wait for the BAM to finalise the players for us before making any further comment.” Currently, the players under Hendrawan’s charge are Goh Soon Huat, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Lim Fang Yang, Loh Wei Sheng, Misbun Ramdan Misbun, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Kuan Kam Chung, Mohd Syawal Mohd Ismail and Tew Gee Chong. More at http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/4/19/sports/8507263&sec=sports
http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/4/20/sports/8513637&sec=sports An easy start for Daren in Chengdu PETALING JAYA: Liew Daren led the way while three other shuttlers from the elite squad fell by the wayside in the first round of the Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) men’s singles competition in Chengdu yesterday. Daren, who is the highest ranked Malaysian singles shuttler in the fray at No. 90 in the absence of world No.1 Lee Chong Wei, defeated Singaporean Ashton Chen 21-18, 21-18. However, Daren, who is aiming to break into the top 40 world rankings by the end of the year, will have a tough task in the second round against 15th seed Wong Wing Ki of Hong Kong. He is joined in the second round by national back-up shuttlers Mohd Arif Abdul Latif and Goh Soon Huat. Arif defeated India’s Sourabh Verma 21-16, 21-12 while Soon Huat beat Taiwan’s Hsuan Lin Chia 21-14, 21-12. But Soon Huat and Arif are not expected to get past their second-round matches against fifth seed Chen Jin of China and Australia Open champion Sho Sasaki of Japan respectively. Elite squad shuttler, Chong Wei Feng, who won the domestic Kuala Lumpur Open earlier this month, crashed to a 12-21, 20-22 defeat by world No. 4 Chen Long of China. Also eliminated in the first round were Tan Chun Seang and Chan Kwong Beng. Earlier in the qualifying rounds of the women’s singles, Julia Wong’s future is now in doubt after failing to make it to the main draw, losing 15-21, 15-21 to Japan’s Mitani Minatsu in a second-round match. Julia had earlier questioned her ability to continue playing at the top level after suffering serious knee injuries and said that she would make her decision after her outing in the ABC and Malaysia Grand Prix Gold in Alor Setar from May 3-8. Lydia Cheah and Tee Jing Yi made it to the main draw. Lydia beat Hong Kong’s Poon Lok Yan and Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang 21-10, 21-12 while Jing Yi chalked up wins over Vietnam’s Le Thu Huyen and India’s P.C. Thulasi. The mixed doubles pair of Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Vivian Hoo also made it to the main draw, beating Syrians Amar Awad-Mahmoud Sana to set up a match against China’s Liu Xiaolong-Bao Yixin.
Wah, this guy really boleh wor. When he say he want to reach third round, suddenly can. But no one expects him to get past Du Pengyu tomorrow!
