By K. M. Boopathy
LEE Chong Wei will face a stern test of his character, and winning a hat-trick of Malaysia Open titles is the least of his worries.
Nor is it the pressure of emulating Rashid Sidek’s feat, the only Malaysian player to have won three consecutive Malaysia Open titles.
Rather, it is whether Chong Wei has it in him to recover from a recent slump to beat some of the best in the world that will be in question.
This year's Malaysia Open, which starts in Kuching tomorrow, has attracted the best players including World No 1 Lin Dan, Singapore Open champion Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark and his compatriot Kenneth Jonassen and the evergreen Chen Hong.
The only top name missing from the list is Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
To add to the pressure, Chong Wei will be without the support of Wong Choong Hann who is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles while Hafiz Hashim withdrew yesterday due to a knee injury.
Chong Wei has been impressive this year, winning the Swiss Open and Asian Championships but a defeat to Christensen in the Thomas Cup semi-finals, which triggered Malaysia's 2-3 defeat to Denmark, last month seems to have affected the player a lot.
Chong Wei has struggled since.
In the Indonesian Open, a rare defeat to Chen Yu of China in the third round made matters worse.
And the Malaysia Open is the perfect place to start winning again. (New Straits Times)
Source:badmintonplanet.com
LEE Chong Wei will face a stern test of his character, and winning a hat-trick of Malaysia Open titles is the least of his worries.
Nor is it the pressure of emulating Rashid Sidek’s feat, the only Malaysian player to have won three consecutive Malaysia Open titles.
Rather, it is whether Chong Wei has it in him to recover from a recent slump to beat some of the best in the world that will be in question.
This year's Malaysia Open, which starts in Kuching tomorrow, has attracted the best players including World No 1 Lin Dan, Singapore Open champion Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark and his compatriot Kenneth Jonassen and the evergreen Chen Hong.
The only top name missing from the list is Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
To add to the pressure, Chong Wei will be without the support of Wong Choong Hann who is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles while Hafiz Hashim withdrew yesterday due to a knee injury.
Chong Wei has been impressive this year, winning the Swiss Open and Asian Championships but a defeat to Christensen in the Thomas Cup semi-finals, which triggered Malaysia's 2-3 defeat to Denmark, last month seems to have affected the player a lot.
Chong Wei has struggled since.
In the Indonesian Open, a rare defeat to Chen Yu of China in the third round made matters worse.
And the Malaysia Open is the perfect place to start winning again. (New Straits Times)
Source:badmintonplanet.com
