Reigning champion Lee upsets Taufik in Malaysian Open
Reigning champion Lee upsets Taufik in Malaysian Open
Agence France-Presse
Kuala Lumpur
Defending champion Lee Chong Wei was the toast of the home
crowd when he upset Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat in the
quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open badminton tournament on
Friday.
For handing the Indonesian ace a 15-5, 15-0 drubbing, Lee
became the only Malaysian player to reach the last four in the
men's singles semifinals on Saturday after another local favorite
Hafiz Hashim was overwhelmed by world number three Peter Gade in
a pulsating encounter.
There was better news for Indonesia in the men's doubles,
where top seeded Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto beat Chan Chong
Ming/Koo Kien Keat of Malaysia 17-16, 15-7, and veterans
Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto defeated Yoo Yeon-seong/Jeon
Jun-bum of Korea 15-4, 15-11.
Luluk and Alven were to play fourth seeded Fu Haifeng and Cai
Yun of China, with Candra and Sigit playing the unseeded Chinese
pair Sang Yang and Xie Zhongbo.
Lee believed his attacking game rattled Taufik, who was
earlier tipped by many to advance based on his victory in the
Singapore Open last week.
"My strategy of adopting a fast attacking game paid dividends.
However I suspect Hidayat was in pain. Maybe he had some problems
with his right leg," said Lee.
Taufik, who suffered a knee injury earlier this year that kept
him out of the All England, preferred to give Lee the credit.
"Lee was the better player tonight," he said.
Gade, who had beaten three Malaysians prior to Friday's last
eight, was made to work by Hafiz in what was clearly the
highlight of the night before finally carving his maiden victory
over the Malaysian in three encounters. Gade won 15-10, 12-15,
15-5.
In the semifinals, Gade will take on China's world number one
Lin Dan who was given a walkover by his injured compatriot Chen
Hong. Fifth seeded seed Chunlai completes the line-up after
beating Chen Jin 15-8, 15-7.
Sixth seed Hafiz was upset with the defeat but conceded Gade
was simply the better shuttler.
"My target was to take the first game and wrap it up in the
second. Just as I feared, I could not seize the initiative in the
third game," said the 22-year old former All-England winner.
Gade was delighted after claiming his fourth Malaysian victim
after wins over Lee Tsuen Seng, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong
Hann in the earlier rounds.
"Hafiz posed some problems but I succeeded in luring him into
my game. The trick was to deny Hafiz the time and opportunity to
attack and smash," said the Dane.