Men’s singles
We could only look on. Lin Dan is champ again after his triumph in 2004. He defeated Lee Hyun-il in the final.
SF:
Lee Chong Wei, now world ranked 2nd, came close to reaching the men’s singles final for the first time but he squandered a 13-5 lead in the rubber game against eventual champion Lin Dan to lose 9-15, 15-10, 14-17.
Lee Hyun-il reached the final when he defeated the only man from Europe with any hope of halting the Asian express, Peter Gade-Christensen 3-15, 15-8, 15-1.
Why does this kind of thing repeat itself? This reminded me of:
- our doubles pair leading 10-0 against the Indons and still lost
- the Dane who trailed 1-13 against a China player, but still won
- Misbun Sidek leading 12-1 or something against Morten Frost and STILL lost.
QF:
Chong Wei knocked out defending champion Chen Hong of China with a 9-15, 17-14, 15-2 win in a 69-minute battle to make the semi-finals for the second consecutive year. It was a thriller all right: Chong Wei was down 10-14 in the 2nd but somehow managed to come back from the cliff’s edge.
World Junior Champion and rising star Chen Jin beaten 6-15, 13-15 by Peter Gade-Christensen.
3rd rnd:
Third seed Lee Chong Wei beat China’s Wu Yungong 15-8, 15-0. Will meet nemesis and defending champion Chen Hong next. He has lost to the Chinese in two major tournaments – the semi-finals of last year’s All-England and the third round of the Athens 2004 Olympics.
Chen Hong ended the gallant run of Yeoh Kay Bin with a 15-11, 15-11 victory. On Wednesday, Kay Bin had upset Olympic silver medallist Shon Seung-mo of South Korea.
Wong Choong Hann’s losing streak continued against world number one Lin Dan. He went down 6-15, 5-15 in a one-hour battle.
Kenneth Jonassen ousted Sairul Amar Ayob 15-3, 15-7.
Kuan Beng Hong’s hopes of a first big breakthrough ended in vain when he went down tamely 1-15, 5-15 to South Korean Lee Hyun-il.
1st rnd:
Hafiz (2003 champ) fell to Chen Jin 14-17 and 5. Defeat was probably more mental than physical. It was a hard fought, evenly matched first set. In the 2nd, he tried to up the tempo and increased freq of attack, started committing unforced errors which was a major factor in his downfall.
Men’s doubles
Final:
Not again! Golden opportunity slipped away. I thought this year would be it, after that triumph over the world no.1 and top seeds.
Tan Fook-Wan Wah went down to Denmark’s Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen 6-15, 17-14, 2-15 in 71 minutes. Enough already!
To their credit, Eriksen and Hansen are certainly extremely tough customers, having seen them in action for years already.
In fact we should’ve lost it by the 2nd, trailing 13-5, but by sheer grit the guys hauled themselves back in the match, raking in nine consecutive points to hold game point at 14-13, then won the set.
It was the 2nd after the 2004 edition that TF & WW lost to the same pair at the same stage, also in 3 sets (AARGGHHH!!!). Hence, Malaysia are STILL without an All-England’s men’s doubles title since Razif and Jalani won it 24 years ago.
According to National Chief Coach Yap Kim Hock: “…they lacked focus when it mattered most.” Sounds familiar, no?
SF:
Tan Fook-Wan Wah beat compatriots Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui, who ran out of steam, 15-8, 15-7 win in 33 minutes.
Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Gan Teik Chai ALMOST made it an incredible dream come true, an all-Malaysian final, when they squandered a 14-5 lead in the first game to lose 14-17, 9-15 to Denmark’s Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen. I told ya, these Danes are hard to kill, but they certainly were glad it was done and over with.
According to Kim Hock:“…they still lack experience to handle the situation at crucial times. They need to be more stable.”
Case in point: Teik Chai even had his service faulted more than five times.
“Teik Chai was rattled when the umpire picked on him. The players need to stay calm and composed during crucial situations. They cannot allow calls against them disrupt their rhythm of play. These will come from experience. ”
QF:
3 of our pairs filled SF places – never happened before!
Unseeded Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Gan Teik Chai stunned seasoned pros, 4th seed and only Indons remaining, Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto 15-13, 15-17, 15-3 in 80 minutes.
Fired-up Tan Fook-Wan Wah took only 32 minutes to defeat South Korea’s top pair Jung Jae-sung-Lee Dae-jin 15-6, 15-4.
Then, youngsters Fairuzizuan-Woon Fui stayed on court for 87 minutes to upset Denmark’s Thomas Laybourn-Lars Paaske 13-15, 15-12, 15-7.
3rd rnd:
for the first time ever, 3 Malaysian pairs are in the last 8. The only QF without a Malaysian pair will see China’s Xie Zhongbo-Guo Zhengdong taking on 2nd seeds Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark.
Unseeded Tan Fook-Wan Wah (2004 runnersup) *at last* beat World Championship runners-up, world no.1 and top seeds, perennial Indonesian bogeymen Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto after trying for so many years 9-15, 15-8, 15-10 in 66 minutes in the 2nd round.
They then qualified for the last 8 by defeating Keita Masuda-Tadashi Ohtsuka 15-11, 15-12.
Then national champions Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui beat Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (China) in a mere 41 mins 3 and 6! Needless to say, this is the biggest win of their career.
Then relatively lo-profile pair Gan Teik Chai-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, freshies at the tourney, upset eighth seeds Jonas Rasmussen-Peter Steffensen of Denmark 13-15, 15-8, 15-7.
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