TOKYO: Former All-England champion Mohd Hafiz Hashim, who has been struggling to find his form since his victory last year, signalled that that he is still up to the challenge when he beat world number 10 Chen Yu to advance to the third round of the Japan Open badminton championships at Yoyogi National Gymnasium here yesterday. After failing to defend his All-England title and losing in the first round of the Korean Open last month, Hafiz had been written off by many. Yesterday Hafiz came back from one game down to beat the Chinese 12-15, 15-11, 15-5 in the second round. Hafiz had been taken the distance in his opening encounter against Indonesian youngster Simon Santoso. He took more than an hour to beat Simon 15-10, 7-15, 15-4. The 22-year-old from Kelantan will face another Chinese player - fifth seed Bao Chunlai – for a place in the quarter-finals today. Hafiz is currently ranked 27th and needs to qualify for the semi-finals to get into the top 16 in the world rankings ahead of the April 30 qualifying deadline for the Athens Olympics. Joining Hafiz in the last 16 are Wong Choong Hann and elder brother Roslin. Roslin overcame a scare to beat Hong Kong’s Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama 15-5, 15-10 in the first round before disposing of Japan’s Saeiki Koishi 15-6, 15-1 later in the evening. Roslin, the 2001 Japan Open champion, who could not adjust to the lights, allowed Hadikusumo to race to a 7-0 lead in the first game. “I didn’t know how to adjust to the lights. I just tried to put the shuttle back into the court. I didn’t counter-attack. After that, I just played my normal game.” Roslin, who is ranked 14th in the world and is almost a certainty for the Olympics, said he needed more points to make his position more comfortable. “I must do my best in this tournament. This is almost the last chance to gets points for the Olympics. Only the Asian championships in Kuala Lumpur (April 20-25) are left. It is very important to win points here,” he said. Roslin will renew his rivalry with South Korea’s Lee Hyun-Il in the third round. He beat the Korean world No 3 for the five-star title three years ago. Choong Hann, meanwhile, had it easier. He received a bye in the first round and beat teammate Yeoh Kay Bin 15-7, 17-16 to book his place in the third round. However, current national champion Lee Chong Wei was forced to bite the dust early when he lost to South Korea’s Park Sung-hwan in the first round. Former national top pair Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng also kept alive their slim chance of making it into the Olympics when they beat Spanish pair Sergio Llopis-Jose Antonio Crespo 15-7, 15-6 to qualify for the second round. Chong Ming-Choon Eng are now ranked 37th and need to finish in the top 19 to make the cut for Athens. But they have an uphill task in the second round today. They face world number three Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun of China. The Chinese beat the young Malaysian pair of Gan Teik Chai-Koo Kien Keat 15-6, 15-8 yesterday. Malaysian top doubles pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah also sailed into the second round yesterday. Tan Fook-Wan Wah beat Japan’s Toru Matsumoto-Keishi Kawaguchi 15-12, 15-3 and will meet Indonesians Trikus Hariyanto-Sigit Budiarto today. The mixed doubles pair of Teik Chai-Fong Chew Yen lost 4-15, 6-15 to fourth seeds Jonas Rasmussen-Rikke Olsen of Denmark. TheSTAR
