BEIJING, Aug 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian shuttler Lee Chong Wei breezed into the Olympics men's singles semifinals with an easy 21-9, 21-11 win over Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro Thursday, placing himself just a match away from a medal.
Chong Wei, the second seed behind China's world champion Lin Dan, will face either Bao Chunlai, also of China, or Lee Hyunil of South Korea in the last four scheduled for Friday evening at the Beijing University of Technology gymnasium.
"Bao and Lee are two very tough players. I will not spend time thinking about them, how good they are. All I want is to focus and prepare the best I can," said the 26-year-old who is rated Malaysia's best medal hope from the onset.
Chong Wei admitted that being the sole shuttler left in contention has racheted up the pressure on him as he becomes Malaysia's second singles player to qualify for the Olympic semifinals after Rashid Sidek who returned with a bronze medal from Atlanta in 1996.
"I am not thinking of any medal now but to take one match at a time. I will take a rest and watch the television this evening when Bao and Lee play instead of coming to the stadium," he added.
China confirmed a semifinal berth this morning with fourth seed Chen Jing ousting Taiwan's Hsieh Yu Hsing 21-8, 21-14.
Favourite Lin Dan plays his quarterfinal bout against aging Danish star Peter Gade and the winner will meet Chen.
Chong Wei had a tensed start against Sony, the Athens bronze medallist, but when he reached 11-8, the Malaysian played with better confidence and when he got into stride, his Indonesian rival buckled under the quick attacks and rapid pace.
"I didn't expect it to be an easy victory but today was not too good a performance from me. I chased every ball and my game strategy was to be quicker at the net," he said of the 32-minute encounter.
He is the only shuttler left after last night saw the exits of women's singles Wong Mew Choo and men's pair of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong at the quarterfinal stage.
Malaysia is counting on the badminton team to get a rostrum finish. Since its inclusion in the 1992 Barcelona Games, it is the only sport to deliver one silver and two bronze medals but after the 1996 Atlanta Games, Malaysia had returned empty handed from Sydney and Athens.
To whet the appetite of the athletes to break the drought, the government announced before the departure to Beijing a RM1 million bounty for the first gold and RM300,000 and RM100,000 for the silver and bronze respectively.
-- BERNAMA
No comments:
Post a Comment