Thursday, 13 August 2009
MALAYSIA’s hope to see a great comeback from Wong Mew Choo went up in smoke at the World Championships in Hyderabad yesterday.
The national women’s singles No. 1 was beaten 21-18, 12-21, 21-23 at the Gachibowli Stadium by Japanese Ai Goto in a 55-minute second round match in which fitness failed her.
Malaysia’s challenge in the women’s singles event ended with the defeat.
Distraught: Malaysian coach Misbun Sidek trying to console Wong Mew Choo after the shuttler’s defeat by Japan’s Ai Goto in the second round of the World Badminton Championships at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad Wednesday. — S.S. KANESAN / The Star
Lydia Cheah crashed out in the opening round on Tuesday.
Yesterday, Mew Choo sparked off hopes of a quick win when she played superbly to beat the pint-sized Japanese in the first game. But she ran out of battery in the second game and gave up easily.
“I just could not take her rally game at that stage. She was punishing me and taking me to the front and back of the court,” said Mew Choo.
“I was really tired. I made mistakes and that frustrated me even more. Then in the decider, she took a comfortable 17-11 lead.
“I told myself that I had worked so hard in training and I was not about to give up. I was tired but I pushed myself and fought for every point.”
Mew Choo managed to overtake Goto at 18-17 but failed to press home at the crucial stages.
Mew Choo was disappointed that she could not produce the same form that resulted in a great comeback to beat Xie Xingfang of China en route to reaching the quarter-finals of the championships for the first time in Kuala Lumpur two years ago.
“It’s disappointing but this is not the end of me. I know I can still improve,” said Mew Choo, who will take part in the Macau Open next month.
Although the world No. 1 women’s pair of Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty defeated Sweden’s Emelie Lennartsson-Emma Wengberg 21-13, 21-11 to reach the third round, it was not an impressive win.
“We took it easy in this first game and did not play that aggressively.
“We were saving our energy for tomorrow,” said Eei Hui of their next match against Japanese Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna, who were the semi-finalists at the Beijing Olympics last year.
“The last time we played against them was two years ago. They certainly have improved but we will be ready for them.”
Courtesy of The Star
No comments:
Post a Comment