ODENSE: Independent shuttlers Zulfadli Zulkifli and Tan Chun Seang has pulled out of the Denmark Open, which begins here today.
The 19-year-old Zulfadli pulled a muscle while competing in last week’s Dutch Open. He lost in the second round to Sweden’s Mathias Borg.
“It’s not a serious injury. I’ve been competing non-stop for the past month so I’m a little tired. It’s time for a break,” said Zulfadli, who will return to Kuala Lumpur today.
Zulfadli, the Asian and world junior champion in 2011, has been competing non-stop the past month. Besides the Dutch Open, he also played in the Taiwan Open, Russian Open and London Grand Prix Gold.
He was a semi-finalist in Russia and made the quarter-finals in London. He has steadily climbed to a career-high No. 55 in the world rankings.
“Results wise, I think I’m doing all right. I’ve also improved my ranking. A short break now will really do me a world of good as I have a number of tournaments lined up before the season ends,” said Zulfadli.
“My goal now is to learn from the defeats and come back stronger and better than those who have beaten me,” added Zulfadli, who will compete in the Korean Open Grand Prix Gold (Nov 5-10), Hong Kong Open (Nov 19-24), Macau Open (Nov 26-Dec 1) and Vietnam Open (Dec 2-8).
For world No. 34 Chun Seang, he hopes to recover in time from flu to compete in the Macau and Vietnam Opens.
“I’ve been coughing and down with flu for more than a month. I’ll consult my doctor back home,” said Chun Seang.
With Zulfadli and Chun Seang’s withdrawals, Malaysia’s participation in the men’s singles will be down to just three shuttlers – world No.1 Lee Chong Wei, Liew Daren and Chong Wei Feng.
