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Saturday October 6, 2007

Badminton: Stunning upset by Choong Hann

By RAJES PAUL

PETALING JAYA: Seasoned singles shuttler Wong Choong Hann pulled off a stunning win over China’s Bao Chunlai while Malaysia's doubles pairs also had a great run in the Macau Open yesterday.

Yesterday, Choong Hann received a big boost in his aspiration to win a place for next year’s Beijing Olympic Games when he stayed on top of his game to beat the second seeded Chunlai and world No. 4, 18-21, 21-16, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.

It was Choong Hann’s first win over Chunlai in five years. His previous win against the lanky Chunlai was at the 2002 Singapore Open.

VETERAN shuttler Wong Choong Hann capped a fine day for Malaysia at the Macau Open by stunning world No. 4 Bao Chunlai to enter the men’s singles semi-finals yesterday. Men’s doubles pairs, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Lee Wan Wah-Choong Tan Fook, are through to the last four as well.
Today, world No. 16 Choong Hann will take on two-time world junior champion Chen Jin in the semi-finals.

He has never beaten the fifth seeded Chen Jin since a win at the 2005 Danish Open but he did come very close to upsetting the Chinese at this year’s Malaysian Open.

Although thrilled with the win, the 30-year-old Choong Hann did not want to get overly excited.

“It is a big upset for me. I have not beaten him for a very long time and I am happy with the achievement today,” said Choong Hann in a telephone interview from Macau yesterday.

“But this is just a start for me. Hopefully, I can achieve more wins against top players on a regular basis. This certainly shows I am on the right track in my chase for a place for the Olympics.

On the semi-final match against Chen Jin, he said: “I still remember the defeat against him at this year’s Malaysian Open. I fought very hard but he did not give up. It will not be eas]y against him but I will give my best shot.”

The other men’s singles semi-finals will be between South Korean Park Sung-hwan and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, who defeated Malaysia's Mohd Roslin Hashim 21-18, 21-16 yesterday.

In the men’s doubles, Malaysia’s top two pairs - Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah - marched into the semi-finals in convincing fashion.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong blew away South Koreans Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae 21-13, 21-14.

Another scalp: Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong beat South Koreans Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae 21-13, 21-14 to march into the semi-finals of the Macau Open
With the win, Kien Keat-Boon Heong now hold the record of having beaten all the top pairs in the world since they forged their partnerships last October.

Tan Fook-Wan Wah ended the gallant run of back-up shuttlers Mohd Razif Abdul Latif-Khoo Chung Chiat with a 21-11, 21-16 win.

Today, Kien Keat-Boon Heong will take on reigning world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia while Tan Fook-Wan Wah meet top seeds Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China.

Gan Teik Chai-Lin Woon Fui came close to making it a grand day for Malaysia yesterday but they went down to Markis-Hendra despite holding a 20-18 lead in the rubber game. They lost 16-21, 21-9, 21-23.

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