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Saturday May 17, 2008

Chong Wei sizzles but Hafiz fizzles out

LEE Chong Wei brought early joy to Malaysia when he raised the chances of victory over China in the Thomas Cup semi-finals yesterday. But in the end, Malaysia bowed out with the tame defeat of Mohd Hafiz Hashim (pic) in a decisive fifth match.

Chong Wei gave a solid display to exact revenge over Lin Dan. The top ranked Malaysian, who lost tamely to the Chinese at the Swiss Open final in March, won the opening match of the tie 21-12, 21-14.

He broke Lin Dan's resolve from the start and took only 36 minutes to demoralize the world number one. After the win, Chinese coach Li Yongbo even gave Chong Wei the thumbs up as he walked towards the celebrating Malaysian camp.

“I even surprised myself with the way I won today. This is one of my greatest wins over Lin Dan. I studied his game intensively after losing without much fight at the Swiss Open. It gives me great satisfaction to nail him down today,” said Chong Wei.

“This has certainly put me in a right mood for the Beijing Olympics. I will continue to improve my game.

“Today, I did my part to win the first point and it certainly would have been double joy for me if Malaysia we had made it to the final. Unfortunately, it did not happen.”

All the flying start from Chong Wei, Malaysia lost the next two matches. Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Wong Choong Hann were beaten Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif levelled the tie at 2-2.

It was left to Hafiz to rise to the occasion to send China packing. But he was beaten 12-21, 16-21 by Chen Jin in a 42-minute littered with mistakes.

A solemn faced Hafiz said: “I gave my best but Chen Jin played better. He kept flicking the shuttle to the back and I could not match his pace.”

Misbun summed up Hafiz's performances by saying: “What can I say. We just did not get to the see the best of Hafiz today. Chen Jin was not his best. But Hafiz failed to take advantage of that. I would have expected to see more aggression from him.

“This is a sad way to lose the tie after the great fightback (from Fairuzizuan and Zakry).”

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