Daren Liew and Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif crash out in Selangor Open – Badminton news
Malaysia’s two top players in the national back-up squad, Daren Liew and Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif crashed out in the Selangor Open in Malaysia, on Saturday, February 25.
The World Number 43 Daren was the top seed in Men’s Singles category in this national tournament while World Number 50 Arif was the second seed.
However, both players faced severe treatment from underdogs and lost their matches to their un-seeded opponents.
Daren surprisingly lost to Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayup in straight games while Arif bowed down to Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin in a well fought three-set match.
The top seed Daren lost the match against the spirited Azriyn without taking a single game by a 19-21 and 13-21 score on the board.
In the meanwhile, Arif could not overpower Iskandar and lost to him with a deficit of 12-21, 21-15 and 22-24.
Ng Chin Chai, the secretary of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), said that the Men’s Singles shuttlers have not produced good performance which is quite alarming. However, he appreciated the good play of Men’s Doubles.
While talking about World Number 32 Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, Chin Chai said that he needs more improvement in his physical fitness.
He said, “We are quite happy with the men’s doubles but the singles could have been better. Hafiz is part of our plan for the coming Finals but his physical condition needs to be improved. We have asked him to join the national team in training after the Europe tournaments (German Open, All-England and Swiss Open).”
Chin Chai also commented on the performance of Daren in the last week’s Thomas Cup Preliminary Round in Macau by saying that he also needs to improve his physical fitness and should win matches as only fighting spirit is not enough.
He added, “The coaches reported that Daren played well and gave a good fight. But we are not only looking at fighting spirit, we want him to start winning matches. He too must improve his physical condition.”
The poor performance of Daren and Arif in the domestic tournament has put their position in danger as BAM will have strong reason to drop them from the national squad for Thomas Cup Finals, if they continue playing in the similar manner.
Tags: