KUALA LUMPUR: Except for national men’s singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei and the top doubles pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Malaysian players face huge stumbling blocks as they bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) starting on Tuesday at the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium (KLBA). The 22-year-old Chong Wei, Malaysia’s highest seeded player at No 5, has a smooth ride until the last eight based on the draw released yesterday. He is expected to play China’s Chen Yu or South Korean Park Tae-sang for a place in the semi-finals. Top seed Tan Fook-Wan Wah should also breeze into the quarter-finals to set up a likely meeting with Indonesian Candra Wijaya-Halim Hariyanto. But the other players all have fights on their hands in the early round of the four-star tournament, the last tournament offering points towards Olympic qualification. Former national number one pair of Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng will have Athens foremost in their minds when they do battle. They face a qualifier in the opening round but will likely to come up against Indonesia’s Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian in the last 16. “I am glad that our world ranking (Choon Eng and I) has improved to 22nd spot. Our place in the Olympics is not confirmed and we will go all out to give our best in the ABC. I will not want to assume my place is assured in the Olympics until the final list is released,” said the 24-year-old Chong Ming. “Four years ago, I was placed 17th in the mixed doubles (with Joanne Quay) but we did not make the cut for the Olympics in Sydney. For now, the focus is just to do well in the ABC.” Only the top 16 pairs in the world rankings are assured of places in the Olympics after the April 30 deadline. A total of 172 badminton players will compete in the Olympics –29 players each in the men’s and women’s singles and 19 pairs each in the three doubles events. Malaysia’s young doubles pairs will also find it hard to shine in the ABC. Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock will take on Indonesian Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto in the opening round while Koo Kien Keat-Gan Teik Chai are set to play defending champions Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea in the second round. In the singles, Mohd Roslin Hashim, Kuan Beng Hong, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Yeoh Kay Bin and Lee Tsuen Seng all face tough opponents. Roslin is set to face Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana in third round; Tsuen Seng will likely play Japan Open champion Ronald Susilo in the third round; Beng Hong could meet defending champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia; Hafiz will probably take on top seed Lee Hyun-il of South Korea in the third round and Kay Bin is tipped to play second seed Xia Xuanze of China. Indonesia made some last-minute changes to their team line-up and have included both Sony and Taufik Hidayat for the ABC. Taufik, currently ranked 23rd in the world, will be out to give a good account of himself to win a ticket to Athens. In the women’s singles, both Wong Mew Choo and Woon Sze Mei have tough openers. Mew Choo will take on Hong Kong’s Ling Wan Ting while Sze Mei has been drawn to meet South Korean Kim Mi-young. Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, who are currently ranked 22nd in the world, will likely play Japanese Shizuka Yamamoto-Seiko Yamada in the last 16. They have to win to keep alive their hopes of becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to feature in the Olympics. TheStar
