Chong Wei has a score to settle

TheStar

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's top men's singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei (pic) has yet to beat South Korean Lee Hyun-il in an international tournament outside of Malaysia.

But this could change at the US$80,000 German Open starting on Wednesday. The fourth seeded Chong Wei is expected to meet the unseeded Hyun-il in the second round.

Over the last one year, both Chong Wei and Hyun-il had had contrasting fortunes in their badminton career.

After a quarter-final appearance in the Swiss Open in March, Hyun-il, a silver medallist at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, failed to clear the early rounds of the other international tournaments and he is currently ranked 23rd in the world.

But Chong Wei has gained in strength. He won the Malaysian Open in July, bagged the Taiwan Open title and finished as the Singapore Open runner-up in November. He is now ranked eighth in the world.

Based on their performances, Chong Wei should get the better of Hyun-il this time and make it to the semi-finals without much problem.

Chong Wei said: “The German Open is my first international tournament for the year and I want to do well. My aim is to reach at least the semi-finals.â€

Chong Wei has only beaten Hyun-il once – in the semi-finals of the 2003 Malaysian Open. He was the loser in the Opens in Holland and Singapore in 2003.

If Chong Wei justifies his seeding, he should be meeting any one of these players – China's second seed Chen Hong, world junior champion Chen Jin of China, former All-England champion and compatriot Mohd Hafiz Hashim or Singaporean Ronald Susilo – in the semi-finals.

The top seed is world number one shuttler Lin Dan of China. The other title contenders in the top half of the draw are Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann and China's Bao Chunlai and Xia Xuanze.

In the absence of Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, Indonesia will be banking on their sole representative, Simon Santoso, to throw in a strong challenge and he is expected to play against Xuanze in the second round.

For Malaysia, besides Chong Wei, Hafiz and Choong Hann, the others in the fray are Kuan Beng Hong, Lee Tsuen Seng, Mohd Roslin Hashim and national discard Sairul Amar Ayob.