PASIR GUDANG: In the absence of the three-time All-England champion Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Chong Wei Feng needs to prove he can live up to the expectation as the second best men's singles in Malaysia.
Chong Wei Feng hopes he can at least reach the final of the championship while China are banking on their future stars for exposing them to more international tournaments.
Despite an ankle problem, Lee Chong Wei produced one of his finest performances to regain the All-England Open title by beating Chen Long from China in an impressively emphatic straight games win in Birmingham on Sunday.
The world number one from Malaysia beat the titleholder from China 21-13, 21-18 – revenge for his loss to Chen in the final last year.
The variety of the 31-year-old's game was often mesmerising, and his focus was steely enough to resist determined second-game fight-backs by Chen from 4-10 to 9-10 and from 13-18 to 17-18 and to within the width of the net tape of getting to 18-all.
Continue reading Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei regains All-England Open Crown (pic)
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1. | Starting at 12:00 PM | WD |
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21-17 18-21 23-21 | 1:21 | ||||||||||
| 2. | Followed by | MD |
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21-19 21-19 | 0:45 | |||||||||||
| 3. | Followed by | WS |
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21-19 21-18 | 0:50 | |||||||||||
| 4. | Followed by | MS |
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21-13 21-18 | 0:59 | |||||||||||
| 5. | Followed by | XD |
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21-13 21-17 | 0:42 |
World number one Lee Chong Wei earned himself a revenge attempt with All-England champion Chen Long after escaping from close defeat to achieve a breathtaking victory.
BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: World number one Lee Chong Wei earned himself a revenge attempt with All-England champion Chen Long after escaping from close defeat to achieve a breathtaking victory.
The Malaysian did that with a 14-21, 21-19, 21-15 win over Son Wan Ho, the in-form world number 11 from Korea, after being close to the exit at a game down and 15-17 and 17-18 down in the second.
In those difficult moments, Lee played his most controlled badminton, either deep to the back-line or tight to the net, and picked his moments perceptively to apply the sudden moments of pressure which took him to his sixth successive All-England Open final.
Son, by contrast, tended to over-press in the crises after playing a superb match in which he took advantage of Lee's error-tinged first game and also pushed on to an early four-point lead in the final game.
Continue reading Lee Chong Wei has Chen Long revenge in his sights (pic)
BIRMINGHAM: There was no holding back indeed as world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei whipped Chong Wei Feng in the second round of the All-England on Thursday.
Chong Wei, who is bidding for his third All-England crown, had previously warned that he will not hold back against training partner Wei Feng.
And he certainly kept his word with a comprehensive 21-6, 21-12 win to make the quarter-finals.
“I expected it to be really tough against Chong Wei and I prepared myself for it … but I didn’t expect it to turn out so bad,” said Wei Feng.
The 31-year-old Chong Wei will now meet exciting Japanese youngster Kento Momota in the last eight.
LONDON: United, Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun stand as an unstoppable force in men's badminton doubles, hauling in four World Championships and an Olympic gold medal. Divided? One will have to fall when they meet at the All England badminton championships.
The duo said they would continue to play together after winning gold in London in 2012, but the Chinese have been experimenting with their lineups and Fu is partnering Zhang Nan, while Cai is with Kai Lu in Birmingham.
The new pairs will square off against each other in the first round proper.
"The All England is an incredible tournament and everyone who plays here wants to win," said Fu.
Continue reading From friends to foes for Chinese Olympic champs
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shuttlers have been handed a tough draw for the All-England badminton championships, which will be held in Birmingham from March 4-9.
According to the draw released Tuesday, world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei has a tricky first round match against Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, who has a knack for rising to the occasion.
The others in top seed Chong Wei’s top half of the draw are Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen, China’s Du Pengyu, Malaysia’s Wei Feng and Japan’s Kenichi Tago and Kento Momota.
If Chong Wei wins the opener, he will meet either Wei Feng or Marc Zwiebler of Germany before either Pengyu or Momota awaits him in the quarter-finals.
Continue reading Tough draw for Malaysians at All-England (pic)
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