I still have faith with our 3rd single. Not because of Hafiz really, because of Hendrawan. Let's see how Hendrawan has changed this guy.
You are right. He is ex Japan number 1. Cause of some reason (injury maybe?) he didnot play for a while so his ranking drop.
Although he was JPN MS#1, in 2009 Sato was dropped from National Team and asked to play in double. This year he played in Single again in some tournament.
Lets see how well Hafiz mental toughness is. THough the runner up team also advanced to QF, but Malaysia one of the 4 team that all people predict at least will go to semifinal without any trouble. Hafiz will probably play with a bit of burden in his shoulder and Sato will play without any burden cause Japan team performed very very well. Can Sato win the match and making the biggest shocking news in THomas Cup event so far?