Taufik targets second straight win
Taufik targets second straight win
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur
Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, whose career has been
characterized by wild swings in fortune, is starting to again
show the form that once made him the best player in the world.
Still only 24, the Indonesian captured last week's Singapore
Open in grand style, claiming only his second title since Olympic
gold in Athens. Along the way, the world number eight beat three
players ranked higher than him: number three Peter Gade of
Denmark, number one Lin Dan and number seven Hong Chen in
succession.
Although it remains to be seen whether he will be able to
carry on his fine form, he said in Singapore that he was only at
70 percent of his playing level after coming back from a knee
injury early in the year, and wants to peak at the World
Badminton Championships in Anaheim, California, in mid-August.
Taufik is now aiming for back-to-back wins with victory at the
US$$120,000 Malaysian Open to raise his world ranking to as high
as number four ahead of the world championships.
He will play Simon Manoury of France in the first round.
All the world championship-bound players are competing in
Kuala Lumpur, as the four-star Malaysian Open, starting on
Wednesday, is the final event prior to the world meet.
Valuable ranking points are up for grabs, with the tournament
offering the players a chance to upgrade their seedings and
secure a better draw for the World Championships.
Lin Dan, who has won five of his last eight tournaments, will
start as the tournament favorite to finally land the Malaysian
Open title. The 20 year old was a quarterfinalist last year.
Danes Kenneth Jonassen, seeded second, and third seeded Gade
are also contenders.
Xia Xuanze, 27, now a lowly number 18 in the world, may have
lost some of his edge but has fire in his belly following the
International Badminton Federation's decision not to award him a
wildcard to defend his world crown, after failing to meet the
qualifying mark.
China's quota of three players will be taken up by world No. 1
Lin Dan, Bao Chunlai and Chen Hong.
So Xia, robbed of his chance to play by injuries, has
something to prove and has been given the perfect platform to do
so at the KLBA Stadium, where he faces world number six Hafiz
Hashim of Malaysia.
Hashim, the 2003 All-England Open champion, and Xia have
crossed swords on numerous occasions and while records favor the
Chinese, the Malaysian is the form player.
In the women's draw, there is no need to look beyond the
Chinese women to find the eventual champion.
Xia Xingfang, Zhang Ning and Zhou Mi are a class above the
rest and have dominated the women's game for more than a year.