EVEN before the first shuttlecock is smashed at the World Badminton Championships in Birmingham today, Malaysia already know that one of their players will be out by Wednesday. The luck, or bad luck, of the draw pits Malaysia's former world No 1 Roslin Hashim against his younger brother and All-England champion Mohammad Hafiz Hashim in the second round. And the Malaysians - gunning for their first world title - are aghast that one of their top players will be sacrificed so early in the biennial event. Team manager Datuk Roland Wong, who feels that the draw favours the Europeans, will lodge a protest with the International Badminton Federation this evening. The brothers tried to put on a brave front. Roslin, who will have to play 12th seed Boonsak Polsana of Thailand in the first round, told Timesport: 'It's a war and I have to win even if it's my brother.' Hafiz, who should make quick work of Russia's Stanislav Pukhov tomorrow, added: 'I will show no mercy.' But, when probed further, they revealed their disappointment. Said Roslin: 'It's so sad. I feel a deep pain in my heart. We trained so hard for this event and now one of us will have to go back early.' Hafiz muttered: 'It's disappointing. Not fair.' Perhaps it is not. But, since both of them are not seeded - their world rankings have dropped after crashing out early at this year's Korea and Japan Opens - they can only blame it on bad luck. And in a World Championships that limit each nation to just four entries in each event, the loss of one by the second round is a crippling blow. Malaysia can still count on ninth seed Wong Choong Hann, but quantity counts in a tournament where quality is assured. Powerhouses like China, Indonesia and Denmark all have numbers on their side. The Chinese - sharp after three months of intensive centralised training in Fujian Province - have top seed and world No 1 Chen Hong, fifth seed Xia Xuanze, and young upstarts Bao Chunlai and Lin Dan. And each of them is good enough to snag badminton's most prestigious individual title. Said Malaysian coach Misbun Sidek: 'The Chinese are the best bets for golds. They are above everyone else at this moment.' Xia will start China's campaign today when he takes on Singapore's Hendra Wijaya. They last met at last year's Singapore Open where Xia beat Hendra 15-13, 17-15. Indonesia can rely on third seed Taufik Hidayat, sixth seed and Asian champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro and veteran Marleve Mainaky. And the Danes have a strong quartet in second seed Kenneth Jonassen, fourth seed Anders Boesen, former world champion Peter Rasmussen and former world No 1 Peter Gade Christensen. Christensen has a stern test today against Sony, but his coach Morten Frost, a four-time All-England champion, is not bothered. He said: 'Sony has no weapons against Peter. I'm very confident.' If Christensen wins, he could meet Singapore's Ronald Susilo in the third round. Susilo plays Aamir Ghaffar of England today in the first round. But while the field is wide open in the men's singles, the women's event will be a largely Chinese party. Top seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong has been struggling with injuries and is not likely to threaten the four Chinese girls, who are all seeded in the top six. Only 1999 world champion Camilla Martin of Denmark is expected to offer any resistance.
