A wake up call for top seeds

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Former world No. 1s Koo Kiean Keat-Tan Boon Heong were ousted from the PROTON Malaysia Open on Wednesday by an up and coming Chinese pair.

The defending champions, who were the top seeds of the men’s doubles competition, were expected to breeze past Hong Wei-Shen Ye but the Chinese duo had other ideas.
Despite falling 21-16 in the first game, Hong Wei-Shen Ye bounced back to take the next two games 21-18, 21-16 to create one of the biggest upsets on the opening day of the first event of the new OSIM BWF World Superseries.
They were not the only top seeds to fall by the wayside in the US$400,000 tournament as Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam were eliminated from the mixed doubles competition after losing 22-20, 21-19 to Japan’s Shintaro Ikeda-Reiko Shiota.
Eight seeds Tantowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia were also knocked out after losing 21-19, 21-11, to China’s Xu Chen-Yu Yang.
A visibly disappointed Kien Keat said the defeat was a real wake up call for the World Championships silver medallists.
“We need to sit down and discuss where we go from here. It was a disappointing defeat and we need to improve in many areas – such as our playing style, service game, smashes and our defence,” said Kien Keat.
“We have one more event (next week’s VICTOR Korea Open) before we take a short break for the Chinese New Year celebrations. We shall use the Korea Open as an event to gauge where we stand at the moment.
“However, I would like to give credit to the Chinese pair as there is no doubt they are very good and we were punished.”
Meanwhile, Japan's Kenichi Tago created an upset when he defeated men’s singles seventh seed Bao Chunlai of China.
The All-England finalists was in a fiery mood against the 2009 Badminton Asia Championships winner as he carved out a hard  fought 22-20, 24-22 win in 53 minutes.
“I wasn’t feeling too confident before the match but Bao made too many errors which helped me,” said Tago.
“This is a good start to the new for me but I'm not going to be carried away. Hopefully I can continue playing just as well tomorrow.”
Tago will meet Holland's Dicky Palyama in the second round. The Indonesian born Palyama booked his place in the round of  16 when he edged Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-16,  17-21, 21-14.

Top seed Lee Chong Wei had to slog for 43 minutes before  beating Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto, son of former world  champion Icuk, 21-17, 21-18 in a titanic battle.
Chong Wei is the sole Malaysian left in the men's draw as two other players, Hafiz Hashim and Wong Choong Hann both bowed out at the first hurdle.
Hafiz was beaten 21-14, 21-16 by third seeded Chinese star  Chen Long while Choong Hann gave his all before falling  21-15 15-21 21-18 to Germany's Marc Zwiebler.
The Chinese women dominated proceedings on the opening day when the top four seeds - Wang Xin, Wang Shixian, Wanh Yihan and Jiang Yanjiao all won in straight games.
Malaysia's Wong Mew Choo, who takes on Wang Xin on Thursday, said she is confident of giving the defending champion a run for her money.
“I have played her twice and lost on both occasions. However, I gave her a tough fight both times and I'm confident I can up my tempo again,” said Mew Choo, who defeated China’s Lu Lan 13-21, 22-20, 21-12 in the opening round.
“Who knows, maybe Lady Luck will be on my side and several of my shots will hit the net cord and fall in,” she added with a big laugh.

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