Selangor Open: Do or Die for Chong Wei Feng as he strives for spot in Thomas Cup Finals
The Malaysian singles badminton player Chong Wei Feng is ready to grab all the attention through his performance in the Selangor Open to secure a spot in the Thomas Cup Finals starting from May in Wuhan, China.
The world Number 57, Malaysian shuttler Wei Feng was overlooked by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in the Thomas Cup preliminaries and Daren Liew had the honour to represent the country along with Mohammad Arif Abdul Latif.
Wei Feng has buckled up to race for the finals of both events as he trails his country fellows Mohammad Arif Abdul Latif, who is currently placed at 50th spot in the world rankings, and the World Number 43 Daren Liew.
Wei Feng said, “I want a place in the Thomas Cup squad, which I feel is still possible because I’m not too far behind in rankings compared to Daren and Arif. After the Selangor Open, I will compete in the German Open next week and hopefully, I’ll be able
to give a good performance to boost my rankings.”
Unfortunately, Wei Feng could not bring out the best at start of this season as he fell prey to a hamstring injury resulting in his absence from the court.
However, the injury could not keep him away for long and Wei Feng recovered with a dramatic pace. He is now sweating hard to make his cut into the Selangor Open final.
He said, “My preparation has not gone well as I pulled my left hamstring during training last week, I had full training the last couple of days and, although I am a little ill-prepared, I have set a target to enter the final.”
The third seeded Malaysian shuttler holds a direct entry to the second round of the event and has a fair chance to proceed for the final as the World Number 1 Lee Chong Wei is not participating in the singles category.
Wei Feng will face Loke Kok Pong in the second round, starting from tomorrow and the win will pit him against Misbun Ramdan Misbun in the quarter-finals.
He needs to overcome the danger like second seed Arif Abdul Latif but the real challenge awaits him in the semi-final where he will be up against either Daren Liew or junior world champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli.
Wei Feng will have to put all he has to rise on the occasion and to register his name in the squad for the prime event of the Thomas Cup Finals.
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