Sport: Badminton/Malaysia Open: Homeboys set to smash and grab Graig Nunis WHEN Olympic glory is at stake, the stakes have been raised for Wong Choong Hann and Hafiz Hashim who are expected to meet each other in the third round of the Malaysian Open starting this Thursday. Choong Hann, the World championships silver medallist, and Hafiz, the all-England champion, go into the tournament with contrasting fortunes. The news got worse for Hafiz who learnt he was left out of the SEA Games individual event. Choong Hann and defending champion Roslin Hashim will represent Malaysia in the individual event in Vietnam this December although Hafiz and Lee Tsuen Seng will be part of the squad who will try to defend the team gold won in Kuala Lumpur. Choong Hann, who has been seeded fourth for the Open, skipped last week's Indonesian Open and should be the fresher of the two. Hafiz meanwhile, is not too concerned about his recent failures as he believes he will get it right in Kota Kinabalu. "I know I've not been playing well but I have confidence in myself. "Both of us are in the race for points to qualify for next year's Olympics. "As such, I will try to accumulate as much points as possible in the Malaysia Open." On the SEA Games, Hafiz said he is not worried at being left out. "It is still not too late to force myself into the reckoning as the list is not final," said the Commonwealth Games champion. "If I can produce my All England winning form, I could replace one of the chosen two." The Malaysian Open begins with the first round tomorrow and will feature all five of the newly crowned world champions – Xia Xuanze (men's singles), Lars Paske-Jonas Rasmussen (men's doubles), Zhang Ning (women's singles), Gao Ling-Huang Sui (women's doubles) and Kim Dong-moon-Ra Kyung-min (mixed doubles).
