Zulfadli only M'sian in men's singles

Kuala Lumpur: Former World Junior champion Zulfadli Zulkifli was the only Malaysian left standing in the main draw of the men's singles of the Malaysian Open Premier Super Series, here Tuesday.Chong Wei Feng, Goh Soon Huat, Liew Daren failed to make it past the first round in the morning when they were shown the exit in the men's singles competition while Mohd Arif Abdul Latiff followed their foot path albeit in the second round.

Even for Zulfadli to progress in the main draw of the Malaysian Open is expected to be an uphill task as he has been drawn in the bottom half which features former world champion and multiple Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.

Zulfadli will face Tian Houwei of China in his first round match Wednesday.

Wei Feng, still not fully recovered from a thigh injury which he had suffered at the Indian Open Grand Prix in January lost 21-13, 9-21 to Denmark's Emil Holst.

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"I did try to catch up all the way in the game and tried to snatch the lead but still unable to do so," said Wei Feng who was certainly seemed affected by the absence of his coach Rashid Sidek who had decided to sever ties with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Tuesday.

"He (Rashid's decision) did affect me a bit. It is more than 10 years I trained under his guidance. I know this day will come but didn't expect it will happen before the match."

Wei Feng said he owed a lot of success to the guidance of Rashid who had decided to leave the BAM fold for greener pastures together with Rosman Razak, another BAM coach.

"Rashid always motivated me when I was down and he was there at my every success. I reached my first semi final in a Super Series, Thomas Cup and Commonwealth Games and others tournaments in his presence," he said.

Liew Daren, fresh from his Poland Open title recently was however, disappointed by Indonesia's unheralded Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, 21-19, 18-21, 16-21.

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"I feel physically he had an advantage in terms of preparation because I just came back from Poland and had hardly trained 100 per cent. There was also pressure because Wei Feng and Goh Soon Huat had lost," he said.

Mohamad Arif meanwhile, lost to Dionysius 18-21, 15-21. – Bernama

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