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Saturday August 25, 2007

Badminton: Mew Choo sneaks into top 10 of the world

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian women’s singles player Wong Mew Choo (pic) has nudged her way into the top 10 in the world badminton rankings.

Mew Choo, who earned respect with a gutsy showing by reaching the quarter-finals in the World Championships held at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil last week, jumped two rungs to ninth spot in the latest rankings.

It is the first time Mew Choo has entered the top 10 in the world badminton rankings and she is slowly but surely on her way to making it into the top eight.

Mew Choo, who was ranked 16th at the beginning of the year, was glad to have made it into the top 10 this year but she will not rest on her laurels.

“I hope to improve further and get into the top eight before the year is over. If there are no injuries, I have a good chance to move up,” said the 24-year Mew Choo, who while capable of playing brilliantly, is also prone to injury.

Being ranked among the top eight will be a boost to Mew Choo’s hopes of securing an Open title, as it will ensure that she will not meet any of the top Chinese players until the quarter-finals.

Mew Choo’s next international assignment will only be the Japan Open from Sept 11-16.

She was not expected to go far in the world meet but she defied the odds to beat two-time world champion Xie Xingfang of China to become the first Malaysian woman to qualify for the last eight.

She went down fighting to fifth seed Zhu Lin of China, who eventually emerged champion.

It was the first time Mew Choo had beaten a top Chinese player. Previously she had beaten two Chinese back-up players – Jiang Yangjio at last year’s China Open and Lu Lan at this year’s All-England.

Top national singles player Lee Chong Wei dropped one rung to fourth spot in the latest world rankings after his unexpected exit at the hands of Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the third round of the world meet.

Sony, however, overtook Taufik Hidayat as the top Indonesian player in the world rankings after making the final in the world meet. Sony is ranked one spot ahead of Taufik in ninth spot.

Lin Dan of China extended his lead at the top of the world rankings after successfully retaining his world title, only the second player after fellow southpaw Yang Yang to do so.

In the men’s doubles, Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong held on to their respective first and second spots in the world rankings despite not reaching the semi-finals in the world meet.

Fu-Cai were beaten by Malaysian veterans Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah while Kien Keat-Boon Heong fell to an unexpected defeat by Japan’s Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda.

Shuichi-Shintaro were rewarded for reaching the semi-finals with a place in the top 10 for the first time.

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