Hyun-il and teammates capable of beating our boys By RAJES PAUL - StarOnline PETALING JAYA: South Korea will be one team that Malaysia would love to avoid in next week’s Thomas Cup Finals challenge in Guangzhou. But if they do meet, probably in the semi-finals, Malaysia will have to try and win every one of the singles matches. South Korea have two strong doubles pairs in their line-up and with their singles players improving by leaps and bounds, they are looking even more dangerous than ever and it could go down the wire between the two teams. Lee Hyun-il ... the spunky 22-year-old will lead South Korea`s challenge. The Koreans, in fact, are capable of giving Malaysia a fight in each of the three singles matches. Malaysia are in Group B with defending champions Indonesia, Thailand and Germany. South Korea are in Group A with China, Denmark and Sweden. A tie is played over three singles and two doubles matches. In the qualifying round in Melbourne three months ago, Malaysia beat South Korea 3-0 but that does not mean they can do it again in Guangzhou. In 1996, Malaysia defeated the South Korea in the qualifying round but they charged back to beat the Malaysians in the Finals in Hong Kong with a 3-2 win. National number one Wong Choong Hann is expected to play Japan Open champion Lee Hyun-il in the first singles. The match can go either way. Although the 25-year-old Choong Hann has never lost to Hyun-il, having beaten him twice at the Asian Championships in 1997 and the Thomas Cup qualifying round, he can expect a torrid time from the spunky 22-year-old Hyun-il. At Melbourne, Choong Hann got away with a 7-2, 5-7, 0-7, 7-4, 7-4 win but the Korean will be out for revenge. An explosive fight is also in store in the second and third singles. The second singles is likely to be between veteran Ong Ewe Hock and 23-year-old Shon Seung-mo. They have met once in the Thomas Cup qualifying round, with a lucky Ewe Hock winning 7-5, 7-5, 1-7, 4-7, 7-2. Seung-mo had upset three Malaysians – James Chua, Choong Hann, Lee Tsuen Seng – and China’s Danish Open champion Bao Chunlai en route to his runner-up finish at the Korean Open. And the 30-year-old Ewe Hock has to pray that the Korean will not be out to spoil his fifth and what is likely to be his last outing. At third singles, Malaysia can field Mohd Roslin Hashim or Tsuen Seng but, either way, it is certain to go down the wire against the most experienced Park Tae-sang. The 27-year-old Roslin has met Tae-sang twice, winning at the quarter-finals of the Indonesian Open in 2000 and the third round at the Japan Open last month. Tsuen Seng has played Tae-sang once, winning at the quarter-finals in the Korean Open in March. But the performances of Tae-sang in recent matches against Roslin and Tsuen Seng have raised doubt on the Malaysians’ abilities to notch an easy win. The Korean went down fighting 4-7, 8-6, 7-1, 2-7, 3-7 to Roslin at the Japan Open and gave Tsuen Seng a scare before losing 8-6, 2-7, 4-7, 8-6, 4-7 at the Korean Open. While the singles players have a fight on their hands, the Malaysian doubles players – Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng and Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, face an even more challenging task. In just two months, their two top pairs Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung and Kim Dong-moon-Ha Tae-kwon, have won three Grand Prix titles for South Korea, signalling their strength ahead of the Finals. Dong-soo-Yong-sung won the Swiss Open while Dong-moon-Tae-kwon captured the prestigious All-England and Korean Open. World number one pair Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng had beaten Dong-soo-Yong-sung in their first encounter at the Thomas Cup qualifying round in Melbourne. But the Swiss Open champions tamed the Malaysians 7-4, 7-1, 7-2 just a month later in the second round of the Korean Open. Although Dong-moon-Tae-kwon are a year younger than Dong-soo-Yong-sung, both 28, they are the more dangerous opponents. They have played Tan Fook-Wan Wah six times, winning three of their encounters. But they have not played under the new scoring format, seven-point best-of-five games yet. Their last encounter was at the World Championships in Seville last year. Malaysia lost 7-15, 15-9, 10-15. With Wan Wah currently not in top condition, recovering from a knee injury picked up at the Japan Open last month, the second Malaysian pair do not appear to stand a chance. Malaysia and South Korea have met each other six times since the 1990 Finals, with both teams winning three ties each. This time, if there is a meeting, it could go the Korean way.
