Improved world ranking of Daren Liew is good for us, says World Number 1 Lee Chong Wei
Malaysia’s top seed and World Number 1 Lee Chong Wei appreciated the recent performances of Daren Liew, who has grabbed the 28th place in the world.
With this world ranking, Daren has become the second best shuttler in Malaysia after the top seed Chong Wei, who is also at the top in the world in Men’s Singles category.
Chong Wei said that the elevation in Daren’s game will help Malaysian team to perform well in the Thomas Cup Finals, where they will be underdogs.
Thomas Cup Finals is the most prestigious team-event tournament which will kick off in Wuhan China in May.
Daren has shown a wonderful improvement in his skills which enabled him to reach into the quarter-final of All England Open Super Series.
He continued his impressive performance in the last week’s Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and again managed to reach at the top-eight stage.
With the help of these inspiring performances in two back-to-back events, Daren superseded the World Number 32 Muhammad Hafiz Hashim who was previously the second seed in Malaysia.
Now, Daren is expected to play the second Men's Singles fight in the Thomas Cup as Chong Wei will play the opening contest and Hafiz will enter into the court in decisive battle.
While talking about the Men’s Singles format for Thomas Cup Finals, Chong Wei said that they stand a good chance to win their matches as Daren is performing well and Hafiz will have an edge in the last fight.
Chong Wei said, "The Thomas Cup is an important event for us and Daren's improvement in ranking is strategically good for us in the Finals. This will put Hafiz as the third singles and we can challenge the stronger teams in Wuhan."
He further added, "Hafiz has continued training with the national team and Daren is also improving, while our doubles have also done well in the qualifiers where we beat South Korea. Everybody said we couldn't win but we did and the spirit must be maintained.”
However, in the Finals, Malaysians will be facing the best opponents in the world of badminton including the power houses like China, Korea, Indonesia and Denmark.
Daren’s striking performance in recent events has brought a ray of hope for the Malaysian squad and has also enhanced the chances of national team to reach at least in the top four.
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