SHAH ALAM: The reigns of Lee Chong Wei and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong as the men’s singles and doubles world No. 1 respectively will be put under test when they compete at the Malaysian Open badminton championships, which will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Jan 19-24.
All the top 30 singles players, including Olympic and world champion Lin Dan, have confirmed participation as the championships serve the opportunity to test the conditions at a venue, which will also stage the Thomas Cup Finals in May.
And the presence of the top Chinese shuttlers, who were absent from the last two editions, will make it tough for Chong Wei to win a sixth Malaysian Open title. He can only expect an easy match against Rajiv Ouseph of England in the first round.
Number one: (from right) Badminton World Federation CEO Thomas Lund, Malaysian Open organising chairman Datuk Al-Amin Majid and Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal posing together in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday after announcing Proton as the title sponsor.
In the draw made yesterday for the second Super Series event of the year, Chong Wei is in the same quarter as South Korean Park Sung-hwan, whom he beat in the final last year, and fifth seed Chen Jin of China.
The other quarter in the same half has Indonesia’s former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, China’s Bao Chunlai and Copenhagen Masters winner Jan Jorgensen of Denmark.
The other half of the draw together with Lin Dan are top Dane Peter-Gade Christensen and Indonesians Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso.
“The return of the Chinese players makes it much tougher for Chong Wei to live up to the expectations of the home fans,” said national singles chief coach Rashid Sidek.
“However, the good news is he has fully recovered from a knee injury and he is coping well in training. He has always done well on home ground and I hope he can reach the final again.”
Wong Choong Hann and Mohd Hafiz Hashim are the two other Malaysians in the men’s singles main draw but they will be hard-pressed to get past the early rounds.
Choong Hann will play against Wacha Przemyslaw of Poland in the first round and the winner will get a probable second round match against Simon, who won the gold medal in the Laos SEA Games.
Hafiz has drawn Hsieh Yu-hsin of Taiwan in the opening round and a second-round match will likely be against 2007 champion Christensen.
National elite back-up shuttler Liew Daren, a quarter-finalist last year, will have to play in the qualifying rounds along with Kuan Beng Hong, Chong Wei Feng, Tan Chun Seang, Lee Tsuen Seng and Sairul Amar Ayob.
Top seeds Kien Keat-Boon Heong will find it tough to regain the Malaysian Open title they last won in 2007 as they have been drawn in the same half as Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan. The Indonesians were the winners over Kien Keat-Boon Heong in the final of the SEA Games in Vientiane last month.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong open their campaign against another Indonesian pair, Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan.
“We normally play better in our second tournament back-to-back but we are skipping the Korea Open next week, so we have to see how things goes. We will aim to get into at least the semi-finals,” said Kien Keat.
National No. 2 Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari are heading for a second round battle with former top national pair Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah unless they lose to 2005 world champions Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan of the United States.
Super Series Masters Finals women’s singles champion Wong Mew Choo also has a tough draw as the unseeded Malaysian can expect to play against world champion Lu Lan of China in the second round.
Lydia Cheah opens against second seed Wang Lin of China while Julia Wong, making a return after a six-month layoff because of a torn knee ligament, has an opening match against SEA Games gold medallist Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Be a champion
IN conjunction with the 2010 Thomas Cup which will be held in Kuala Lumpur next May, TV9 and Yonex with the support of the Youth Ministry and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will introduce a badminton reality show called Jaguh.
It is timely as badminton has achieved remarkable success in the Malaysian sports arena, such as Malaysia winning the Thomas Cup in 1992, All England in 2003 (singles) and 2007 (double) and a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics.
After the achievements of players such as Cheah Soon Kit, Misbun Sidek and Soo Beng Kiang and current heroes such as Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Hafiz Hashim and Tan Boon Heong, it is the nation’s responsibility to make sure the talents of fresh players are not wasted.
Now, with new show Jaguh, TV9 hopes that it could be the platform to let the fresh talents shine.
In line with the station’s mission to search for the next talented young athlete, Jaguh also hopes to drum up interest for the game, especially for the young generation.
Jaguh is open to all boys aged from nine to 11. Admirable attitude, talents and fitness are what’s needed to be a great athlete and to make it big in the show.
The show will be judged by the coaches from the BAM, led by Kwan Yoke Meng (one of Malaysia’s badminton singles players who won the Thomas Cup in 1992).
He will be assisted by three experienced coaches – Koah Kar Lin, Salleh Swandi and Sufian Abu Bakar.
This show will give young players a chance to show off their talents and follow in the footsteps of their idols.
Producer Wahyu Nurtjahyono Subiyakto, 33, said that his biggest challenge in producing Jaguh is to juggle the filming schedule.
“We really do a lot of juggling as these boys will be back at school from Jan 4 so that’s our biggest challenge,” said Wahyu, adding that his team comprises four directors who will focus on two students each.
“We decided to come up with Jaguh after doing a bit of research in the Klang Valley. We discovered that many badminton courts in sports complexes are fully booked at most times.
“That’s how we discovered how popular badminton is among Malaysians regardless of their age.
“And for a start we don’t want to be too ambitious. That’s the reason we are only having an audition in the city. Even then we received calls from people outside the Klang Valley and they told me that they are willing to come all the way to the city for the audition.
“Sixteen hopefuls are selected during the audition and that will be trimmed down to eight finalists. They will compete during the school holidays in March,” explained executive producer K.M. Baskaran.
For the whole month of January, the production crews will follow eight finalists to their homes to record their daily routines such as home-based training and their lifestyle.
“We will bring the coach with us during the filming so they will give tips and advice to the contestants.
“During the one-week school holiday in March the eight boys will undergo intensive training as there will be an elimination process until we have the two finalists,” explained Wahyu, adding that the contestants will be evaluated based on their commitment, talent and performance.
Jaguh comprises eight episodes and will premiere on March 26 with the finale on May 14 on 9TV at 9pm.
It is timely as badminton has achieved remarkable success in the Malaysian sports arena, such as Malaysia winning the Thomas Cup in 1992, All England in 2003 (singles) and 2007 (double) and a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics.
After the achievements of players such as Cheah Soon Kit, Misbun Sidek and Soo Beng Kiang and current heroes such as Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Hafiz Hashim and Tan Boon Heong, it is the nation’s responsibility to make sure the talents of fresh players are not wasted.
Now, with new show Jaguh, TV9 hopes that it could be the platform to let the fresh talents shine.
In line with the station’s mission to search for the next talented young athlete, Jaguh also hopes to drum up interest for the game, especially for the young generation.
Jaguh is open to all boys aged from nine to 11. Admirable attitude, talents and fitness are what’s needed to be a great athlete and to make it big in the show.
The show will be judged by the coaches from the BAM, led by Kwan Yoke Meng (one of Malaysia’s badminton singles players who won the Thomas Cup in 1992).
He will be assisted by three experienced coaches – Koah Kar Lin, Salleh Swandi and Sufian Abu Bakar.
This show will give young players a chance to show off their talents and follow in the footsteps of their idols.
Producer Wahyu Nurtjahyono Subiyakto, 33, said that his biggest challenge in producing Jaguh is to juggle the filming schedule.
“We really do a lot of juggling as these boys will be back at school from Jan 4 so that’s our biggest challenge,” said Wahyu, adding that his team comprises four directors who will focus on two students each.
“We decided to come up with Jaguh after doing a bit of research in the Klang Valley. We discovered that many badminton courts in sports complexes are fully booked at most times.
“That’s how we discovered how popular badminton is among Malaysians regardless of their age.
“And for a start we don’t want to be too ambitious. That’s the reason we are only having an audition in the city. Even then we received calls from people outside the Klang Valley and they told me that they are willing to come all the way to the city for the audition.
“Sixteen hopefuls are selected during the audition and that will be trimmed down to eight finalists. They will compete during the school holidays in March,” explained executive producer K.M. Baskaran.
For the whole month of January, the production crews will follow eight finalists to their homes to record their daily routines such as home-based training and their lifestyle.
“We will bring the coach with us during the filming so they will give tips and advice to the contestants.
“During the one-week school holiday in March the eight boys will undergo intensive training as there will be an elimination process until we have the two finalists,” explained Wahyu, adding that the contestants will be evaluated based on their commitment, talent and performance.
Jaguh comprises eight episodes and will premiere on March 26 with the finale on May 14 on 9TV at 9pm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
