Daren Liew determined to wash out stain of failures in Thomas Cup Finals – Badminton News
Men’s Singles shuttler Daren Liew of Malaysia has been struggling to revive his status in the arena for last few months but he is positive to end this streak of failures in Thomas Cup Finals, set to be staged in Wuhan from May 20, 2012.
World Number 33 Daren will swing his arms as second Men’s Singles campaigner after Lee Chong Wei and he has a huge burden of expectations to lift as the nation will be looking to him to rise in the esteemed team event.
The young Malaysian earned a great deal of respect by making it into the quarter-finals of All-England and Swiss Open earlier in this year but later he failed to register his mark in a series of international events.
However, Daren looked confident to get back on track while he makes his debut in the 2012 edition of Thomas Cup. He believes his low ranking will work in his favour as the pressure will be on his higher ranked opponents.
He said, “The Thomas Cup Finals is a chance for me to make a breakthrough. The good thing is that I’m considered an underdog in my position and that takes away some of the pressure.”
Though, Daren lost his position of national number two shuttler after his compatriot Hafiz Hashim climbed up to 27th position in world ranking but still he will be fielded in second Singles tie.
The 24-year-old shuttler admitted that he needs to elevate his physical and mental strength to rise from the dust.
He said, “I’ve not done well in recent tournaments and suffered a loss of form. I’ve been focusing on my fitness in the last few weeks. I need to be as fit, if not fitter, than my opponents to pull off an upset.”
He will face world class shuttlers like Chinese master Chen Long, former World and Olympic Champion Taufik Hidayat, the danger man Kenichi Tago of Japan and the Danish campaigner Jan O Jorgensen.
Daren Liew stated that it will be a huge task for him as he has a pitiable track record against these shuttlers. He will have to stretch hard to overcome these prime shuttlers in Thomas Cup Finals.
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