BEIJING, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia's top bet for a medal in the Olympics, and veteran Wong Choon Hann overcame tough openers to advance into the third round of the Olympics men's singles Monday.
National top women's singles Wong Mew Choo also stayed on course, booking herself a quarterfinal date with China's second seeded Lu Lan.
Chong Wei stamped his class over Ronald Susilo of Singapore 21-13, 21-14 while Choon Hann stopped defending champion Taufik Hidayat 21-19, 21-16.
"I recovered from dengue fever only recently but it is not why I lost. Choon Hann played well today and I didn't," said the Indonesian who turned 27 Sunday, adding that he does not see a fourth Olympics for himself.
"I will not retire yet but this is likely the last Olympics. There are many players back home who can take over," said Taufik on who he picked as the next Indonesian star.
Chong Wei, who is seeded number two behind two-time reigning world champion Lin Dan of China, took just 38 minutes to shatter any hope Ronald may have had of repeating his upset of Lin Dan in the Athens Olympics four years ago.
"I was feeling a little stiff since this was the first match. But after taking the lead, from 9-9 to 13-9, I cooled down and was more relaxed," said Chong Wei, who is now poised to breeze into the quarterfinals against Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro.
Sony dumped Chong Wei out of the second round at last year's World Championships in Kuala Lumpur. The Indonesian who was also the bronze medallist in Athens beat Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 21-16, 21-14 in the second round.
Both Chong Wei and Sony have easy opponents in the third round scheduled Tuesday night and will have a day's rest on Wednesday before an expected stormy quarterfinals.
The win over his good friend Taufik left Choon Hann grinning from ear to ear. The Malaysian reached the last eight in his debut at the 2000 Sydney Games and in Athens, it was Taufik who bundled him out in the pre-quarterfinal round.
"The Olympics is always full of surprises. Everytime I play Taufik, the games are very close," said Choon Hann who refused to be carried away by the win and will focus one match at a time.
He said his next rival is either Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh or Hsieh Yu Hsing of Taiwan.
Favourite Lin Dan of China ousted Hong Kong's Ng Wei 21-16, 21-13 and faces tough fighting South Korean Park Sung hwan in the third round.
"I know many Chinese expect me to win the gold medal but as of now, I am not the defending champion. I will try my best," said the reigning two-time world champion.
Mew Choo appeared more relaxed after winning her second match although she overwhelmed Bulgaria's Petya Nedelcheva 21-16, 21-8.
"As this is my first Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals is good for my confidence. I have my own target of what I want to achieve here but I am not revealing it," she said.
Mew Choo meets China's second seed Lu Lan in the last eight Wednesday night. The two have clashed five times before with the Malaysian winning twice.
-- BERNAMA
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