With his poor physical condition of late, the 26-year-old Hafiz entered the court as the underdog but he turned on the power to beat world No. 3 Bao Chunlai of China 21-23, 21-15, 21-15 in a 57-minute third round match yesterday. Hafiz, in full flow with his attacking game, tore apart Chunlai to set up a clash against World Championships runner-up Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in the quarter-finals. Boosted by the win, Hafiz said his morale was high ahead of the Thomas Cup Finals, which will be held in Jakarta from May 11-18. “This is really, really satisfying. I wanted to prove that my preparation is in order for the Thomas Cup Finals and that is why I went all out against Bao,” said Hafiz, who immediately called his wife Nadzatul Shima to tell her about his conquest. “My confidence was dented when he (Bao) came from behind to win the first game. But I just threw whatever I had at him. Today (yesterday), my smashes and net play worked to my advantage.”
misbun always say HH is great when in training...atleast we saw once now...so other people will not saying misbun are protecting HH...
hoho... i'll be as happy no matter who beat a chinese player. hope WCH wil beat CJ today, and kenneth wil win the european championship, haha... tats mean no olympic ticket for chen jin !! im so bad...no offense to supporter of china's badminton team
I am certainly very happy to see Hafiz beat Bao but a bit conservative to claim Hafiz is back. Is only one match and for Hafiz to beat any top notch player, every departments of his game have to work to perfection and did this time. If Hafiz able to overcome Soni then we can take a sip of our "kopi-o" and said "He is back"
No, we will be given the; setinggi mana piala di julang...tinggi lagi martabat di junjung pep talk. Malaysia Boleh!
hahaha..ching i think HH will lose today cause he is the only player with a lot of inconsistency copare to SDK....well maybe luck wil help HH
Hafiz played right strategy to overcome BCL who is a moody-type shuttler, inconsistent and only sometimes he can produce impressive performance. Or based on Hafiz's opinion through BWF website : YONEX-SUNRISE ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Boonsak, Hafiz slay top guns 18 April 2008 ----- "Perhaps, he is not really focused on this tournament as the Thomas Cup will be held soon but I'm very happy with this win." -----
its all normal. people win and lose, some win more and some lose more. we've gotten quite used to Hafiz losing, that is why his win over BaoCL would seem a miracle. nevertheless, its a good effort. remember Boonsak winning the Singapore Open last year?
