Malaysian duo to skip Korea Open

JAKARTA (JP): Malaysian men's doubles specialists Lee Wan Wah and Chew Choon Eng withdrew at the last minute from the US$250,000 Korea Open in Cheju Island, South Korea, scheduled for next week, due to injury and illness.

Lee Wan Wah, third seed at the Jan. 10 to Jan. 14 tournament with partner Choong Tan Fook, injured his ankle during the training session on Tuesday and has yet to recover.

While Chew, who was supposed to partner Chan Chong Ming, has contracted chicken pox.

Coach Park Joo-bong of South Korea had no other choice but to partner Choong and Chan for the tournament.

"Lee said he will be able to play but won't be able to exert himself. As such, I have no choice but to leave him out of the tournament," Park said on Friday as quoted by the New Straits Times.

"He feels he is only 60-70 percent ready for the tournament. Since the Korean Open has attracted a world class field, there will be tough matches to play."

"As such, he feels it is best that he skips the tournament. As much as I would like him to play, he knows his body best."

"In Chew's case, he provided a medical certificate saying he is down with chicken pox, which effectively rules him out."

"So, Choong and Chan will be paired together for the tournament."

The withdrawal blew Park's plan to evaluate Lee and Choong, especially due to their poor performance in several tournaments recently.

They failed to keep Malaysia's tradition of retaining the Olympics medal after losing to South Koreans Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon in the bronze medal play-off in Sydney in September.

As the top seeds in the Asian Badminton Championships here in November, Lee and Choong also failed to win the title, losing to host scratch players of Rexy Mainaky and Tony Gunawan.

At the invitational Copenhagen Master, which used the round- robin system, they failed to reach the final.

As for the Chew and Chan partnership, their hopes of starting the year on the right footing have to be put on hold.

"It is sad that Chew and Chan will not be able to partner in the tournament as they had played well together in the Thailand Open and Malaysian Open last year," said Park.

Chew and Chan had stunned world champions Ha Tae Kwon-Kim Dong Moon of South Korea in the Malaysian Open in August and beat Sweden's Peter Axelsson and Par Gunnar Jonsson, the current world No 11, in the Thailand Open.

Park was visibly upset with the news that both players will not be able to make the trip to Korea and said: "It is not a very good start to the year." (yan)