PETALING JAYA: National number one Lee Chong Wei gets the chance to make a quick rebound from a disastrous showing in the World Championships at the US$150,000 India Open, which will be played in Hyderabad from Sept 4-9.
Chong Wei, who was blown away by Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the third round at the Putra Stadium last week, is the top seed and he has a smooth path to the semi-finals where he is expected to play against China’s Chen Yu or India’s Anup Sridhar.
Both Chen Yu and Anup gave creditable performances in the world meet. The Chinese reached the semi-finals, losing to Sony while the Indian scalped Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia before going down to eventual champion Lin Dan of China in the quarter-finals.
The competition is expected to be stiffer in the other half of the draw for Wong Choong Hann and the Hashim brothers, Mohd Hafiz and Mohd Roslin.
They have second seed Bao Chunlai of China and Taufik in the half.
In the men’s doubles, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif are Malaysia’s best bet but they are in the same half with the top seeded Indonesian-American combination of Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan and South Koreans Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae.
Malaysia have two other pairs in the fray – Chan Chong Ming-Hoon Thien How and Gan Teik Chai-Lin Woon Fui.
They are in the same half of the draw as second seeds Lee Jae-jin-Hwang Ji-man of South Korea and China’s Xie Zhongbo-Guo Zhengdong.
