Injured Jung Jae Sung and Park Sung Hwan increase Malaysia’s chance to win against South Korea
Malaysia stands a great chance to win against South Korea in the Thomas Cup Preliminary Round as Korea’s Men’s Doubles Jung Jae Sung and Men’s Singles Park Sung Hwan are not participating in the event due to injury.
The Preliminary Round of Thomas Cup Finals will kick off from Tuesday, February 14, in Macau.
Korea’s Jae Sung is suffering with a shoulder injury while his country-mate and Men’s Singles World Number 15 Sung Hwan is also having an injury and both have not yet fully recovered.
The absence of Jae Sung and Sung Hwan is a blessing for Malaysian shuttlers as now they have a better chance to win against the Korean challengers.
Han k*k, the head coach of Korea, said that both shuttlers will not participate in the tournament and will remain away from the arena to recover from their injuries.
He said, "Jae Sung and Sung Hwan will not play in the Thomas Cup qualifying rounds as we want them to recover fully from their injuries. We are also not going to make any replacements and will compete with the players we have.”
While talking about Korea’s prospects of winning against Malaysia, k*k said that it will be a challenging battle.
However, he is still optimistic to win the match and remain at the top in the group D of qualifying round.
He said, "It will be tough against Malaysia but we will try to win two doubles and get one point in the second or third singles. Although Jae Sung and Sung Hwan are not playing we are still hoping to qualify for the final rounds as our team is still the same.”
However, now it will be less challenging for Malaysia’s Men’s Doubles top seeded, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong, to put up superb show and win a point against Korean opponents.
Malaysia will also have an advantage in the Men’s Singles third fight where they will face an inexperienced Korean opponent.
Rashid Sidek, the Men’s Singles national coach, said that now Malaysian shuttlers have a chance to win all three Men’s Singles battles as the absence of Sung Hwan has made the final singles vulnerable and Malaysian shuttler can take benefit from it.
Tags: