World No. 1 shows he is still the boss

 Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia cruised past Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Mihn (Viet) 21-12, 21-17 on the opening day of the Victor BWF Super Series Finals 2010 in Taipeh on Wednesday.

The world No.1, who is the two-time defending champion, took 34 minutes to win his Group A match. He will next play Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen, knowing another win will almost certainly see him enter the semi-finals.

“I am happy with the start and confident of taking on Jorgensen tomorrow. There is some draught in the stadium and I took some time to adjust to the conditions,” said Chong Wei, who is gunning for his 36^th professional title.

“I haven’t played in Chinese Taipei for several years and as such, it was good to get a feel of the stadium. I only trained for an hour at the competition venue. I need more time to adapt to the conditions.”

Chong Wei, who travelled to Taipeh without coach, Misbun Sidek, who quit the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) on Dec 31, was all business on the court.

“I am focused and confident of doing well in the tournament,” was his warning to his rivals, who think Misbun’s absence would make Chong Wei weaker.

Jorgensen has his back against the wall after losing his opening Group A match to his mentor, Peter Gade. Gade, a former world No.1 showed his ‘heir apparent’ he still has a lot to learn when he registered a 21-11, 18-21, 21-16 victory.

Gade may be the oldest player in the field, but has matured like fine wine and recently added a 10^th Copenhagen Masters to his bulging trophy cabinet.

 In Group B, former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat (left), who has been hampered by a foot injury he picked up at the Hong Kong Open last month, crashed to a three-game defeat to Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.

Taufik, who recently won his first ever Super Series title when he took home the French Open crown, put up a decent fight in the opening two games before going down 21-18, 18-21, 21-7.

“I have not fully recovered from a foot injury and this hampered my movement on court,” admitted Taufik. “It is not a good start for the tournament, but it is only first match.

“I hope to play better in remaining matches. This tournament is also a good preparation for Malaysia and Korea Opens later this month. Let’s see how the injury holds.”

Chen Long defeated Chinese team mate Du Penyu 21-15, 13-21, 21-11 in the other Group B match.

Meanwhile, women’s top seed Wang Shixian of China started her campaign with an easy 21-14, 21-6 thrashing of Holland’s Yao Jie. Wang Shixian’s biggest threat in Group A is South Korea’s Bae Youn Joo, who had to fight it out with Thailand’s Salakjit Ponsana before winning 19-21, 21-17, 21-11.

In Group B, Wang Yihan, who ended the year with back-to-back victories in Denmark and France, also got off to a tremendous start when she hammered Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva 21-7, 21-14. Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin also had a winning start, beating Denmark’s Tine Baun 21-18, 22-20 to take a step closer to the final four.

Article by www.bwfbadminton.org

Yangyang Rg | Create your badge


Park & Sun BM-PS/ALUM Badminton Pro SetWilson Badminton Tour KitYONEX Combo Badminton Recreational Package-2 Racket SetSportcraft Four Player Badminton Racket SetCarlton Tournament 4 Player Badminton Set