TOP SEED BUT NOT FAVOURITE
Posted by valsus on February 14, 2009
NST Online : 13 February 2009
By : K.M. Boopathy
LEE Chong Wei will be the first Malaysian men’s singles player to be seeded top in the All England in Birmingham on Mar 3-8 but this is not expected to give the World No 1 a big advantage due to potential danger awaiting as early as the first round.
Hafiz Hashim was the last Malaysian to win the title but achieved it as an unseeded player in 2003 while Tan Aik Huang won the crown as the favourite in 1966 where there were no official world ranking or seedings available.
Winning the All England as the top seed would be hugely satisfying for Chong Wei as not only does he need to deal with some darkhorses early but the ultimate challenge of toppling Olympic champion Lin Dan of China in the final.
World No 10 Simon Santoso of Indonesia, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana, ranked 11th, and Bao Chunlai of China, ranked 12th, are the players Chong Wei, semi-finalist in 2006 and last year, needs to be cautious about as he might find himself playing them in the preliminary rounds.
The quarter-final stage could also be tricky as the luck of the draw could pit him against Indonesian Taufik Hidayat or South Korean Park Sung Hwan.
Chong Wei could be taken the distance by these players but if current form is anything to go by, he will find Lin Dan as the sternest test in securing his first All England title.
The men’s doubles seeding is also favourable to Malaysia as Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Zakry Latif-Fairuzizuan Tazari, the third and fourth seeds respectively, will avoid meeting each other until the final.
This means both pairs can make it to the semi-finals should they overcome early obstacles, including Korea Open champions Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark and China’s Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun.
The top two seeds are Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia and Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark respectively and Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Zakry-Fairuz have a fighting chance to book a final date.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong, the 2007 winners, are in a better position to advance to the final as they have beaten the top two pairs but Zakry-Fairuz may find it tough if they are drawn to face Olympic champions Markis-Hendra in the last four.
World No 2 Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui face a tough battle to reach even the women’s doubles quarter-finals as China, led by Du Jing-Yu Yang, will be back in full force.
