Hariyanto Arbi says Lee Chong Wei, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong will be title contenders at Olympics
Indonesia’s former legendary shuttler Hariyanto Arbi stated that Malaysia stands a good chance of winning a title at the upcoming London Olympics through Lee Chong Wei and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles categories respectively.
The former World Champion Hariyanto, who was a top quality shuttler in 1990’s, ruled out the chances of Indonesian players to win any gold medal in all categories of the sport as he does not see any player who could live up to expectations in the upcoming
mega event.
The Indonesian legend also gave a thumb up for the World Number 8 Kien Keat and Boon Heong as according to him, they are dangerous for all top shuttlers if they remain in good form at Olympics.
Though Kien Keat and Boon Heong are not in tremendous form at the moment and have not won any major event for a while but they possess all top quality skills and are also technically and tactically strong players who can spoil the party of all top shuttlers.
Besides Malaysian shuttlers, Hariyanto also highlighted three more pairs who will be contending for the Men’s Doubles title including Korea’s Chung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae, China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Denmark’s Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen.
All these three pairs are positioned at number 1, 2 and 3 respectively in Men’s Doubles world rankings.
He said, said, “This time, I only see four pairs in contention for the medals. Koo and Tan can be dangerous if they are on form and I’m not ruling them out just yet. The others – Cai Yun-Haifeng, Yong-dae-Jae-sung and Mathias-Boe – are hungry for their first
Olympic gold medal.”
While talking about Men’s Singles category, Hariyanto said that Chong Wei will be a major contender for gold medal along with China’s Lin Dan and Chen Long.
He added, “It won’t be wrong to say that these three players will battle for medals at the Olympics. Lin Dan and Chong Wei are the favourites but I see Chen Long as the most improved player of the season.”
Hariyanto did not include the name of any Indonesian shuttler who could win Men’s Singles or Men’s Doubles titles at Olympics as no shuttler seems to be capable enough to challenge the world in these both categories.
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