Wednesday February 18, 2009
By LIM TEIK HUAT
PETALING JAYA: Lee Chong Wei may have avoided a potential minefield in next month’s All-England badminton championships but he still faces a tough task of reaching the final for the first time.
In the draw released yesterday, Chong Wei, who has been top seeded for the All-England for the first time, can breathe easy as he will not have China’s Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai for company.
Instead, second seed Lin Dan will have to slug it out with his two compatriots when the tournament is held in Birmingham from March 3-8.
It will be a tough comeback for Lin Dan, who has skipped the last three tournaments, as Chunlai awaits him in the second round.
Thai threat: Lee Chong Wei could face Boonsak Ponsana in the earlier at the All-England.
Although the top three Chinese shuttlers are in the bottom half, Chong Wei can still expect to face a host of challengers.
Chong Wei has a tricky first round match against Chinese junior Yi Lu followed by a probable clash against top Thai Boonsak Ponsana.
It only gets tougher after that for Chong Wei as he is likely to play eighth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia next.
Chong Wei beat Sony in the last eight en route to winning the Olympic silver medal in Beijing last August but the Indonesian is capable of ending the Malaysian’s hopes of winning the title.
Also in the top half of the draw with Chong Wei are top Dane Peter-Gade Christensen and former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
Christensen has a tough first round match against Indonesian Simon Santoso while Taufik opens against Taiwanese Hsieh Yu-shin.
Christensen ended Chong Wei’s hopes of snatching his third successive title by beating him for the first time at the Korean Open last month and is fancied to slug it out with Taufik in an exciting quarter-final match, with the winner probably going on to play Chong Wei in the semi-finals.
It could be Taufik’s last attempt at winning the only major title to have eluded him and the two-time former All-England runner-up will surely be going all out to set the record straight.
National singles coach Misbun Sidek said the draw was more or less expected for Chong Wei.
“He won’t meet the top Chinese players until the final but Chong Wei has to be really focused to do well.
“Everyone is gunning to beat the world number one and Chong Wei must be ready to handle the pressure as the top seed this time,” said Misbun.
Malaysian veteran Wong Choong Hann, meanwhile, has to overcome Danish hurdles to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Choong Hann faces Jan O’Jorgensen before a likely second-round meeting against current Danish No. 2 Joachim Persson.
Malaysia’s two back-up men’s singles players – Kuan Beng Hong and Chong Wei Feng – are starting at early exits.
Beng Hong faces Anup Sridhar of India while Wei Feng plays Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in their first qualifying matches respectively.
Clear that and they will face each other for a place in the main draw.
But the winner will play Lin Dan in the first round.
In the women’s singles, Julia Wong is the only Malaysian in the main draw. She will probably have to overcome the challenges from eighth seed Xu Huaiwen of Germany and fourth seed Pi Hongyan of France to reach her first All-England semi-finals.
Julia is in the bottom half with Olympic silver medallist Xie Xingfang of China and second seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong.
Lydia Cheah will have to make her way through the qualifying rounds to earn a first round clash against Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia. If she wins, she is likely to face Xingfang next.
SEJAHTERA BADMINTON 