The Star Online > Sports Monday September 1, 2003 Hafiz falls out of favour after string of lacklustre display By RAJES PAUL PETALING JAYA: All-England champion Mohd Hafiz Hashim is no longer a favourite pick to represent Malaysia in an international tournament. He has been left out of the Vietnam SEA Games' individual event and he may find himself out of the Athens Olympics next year too if he fails to pull up his socks, starting with the Malaysian Open, which begins on Wednesday at the Likas Sports Complex in Kota Kinabalu. National singles chief coach Misbun Sidek has sidelined Hafiz and Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann for the SEA Games' individual event. However, Hafiz and Lee Tsuen Seng will join Choong Hann and Roslin for the team event. But whether Hafiz gets to feature in any of the ties is uncertain. The 21-year-Hafiz may also not qualify for his first appearance in the Olympics if he continues to lose in the early round in tournaments on the world circuit. Since winning the All-England in February, he had lost in the Japan Open (second round), Korean Open (first round), World Championships (second round), Singapore Open (first round) and Indonesian Open (third round). His world ranking has dropped to 32nd. To qualify for the Athens Olympics, he has to get among the top 16. Misbun said that Hafiz was not selected to play in the SEA Games individual event because of his poor form. “Roslin is the better choice for the individual event in the SEA Games because he did better than Hafiz in the World Championships (in Birmingham). Hafiz has been struggling to go past the early rounds in the Open tournaments,” he said. The 28-year-old Roslin, who was a quarter-finalists at the World Championships, is the SEA Games defending champion. He beat Thailand's Boonsak Polsnan to become the first Malaysian in 28 years to win the men's singles gold medal in the Games in KL in 2001. “Hafiz needs to snap out of this slump and hopefully, he will be able to give a better showing in the Malaysian Open. He needs to enter at least the quarter-finals of every international tournament to stay on track for a place in the Olympics,” said Misbun. Hafiz is expected to find the going tough in the Hafiz in the Malaysian Open. He is tipped to play against World Championships' runner-up Choong Hann in the third round. But first, he has to beat Hong Kong's Agus Hariyanto and Indonesian Yohan Hadikusuma. Hafiz and Choong Hann have played against each other once in international competition – at the Manchester Commonwealth Games last year. Then Hafiz won the match and went on to take the gold medal. The return of world champion Xia Xuanze, who skipped the Indonesian Open to recover from a calf injury, in Kota Kinabalu is expected to spice up the battle in the men's singles. The others top players for the Open are top seed Chen Hong of China, South Korean Lee Hyun-il, India's P. Gopichand, Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat and Denmark's Peter-Gade Christensen
