ANOTHER World Championships outing is done and dusted and the wait for a first Malaysian world champion continues. The bid to end the elusive chase took a cruel twist from the start when three-time silver medallist Lee Chong Wei withdrew weeks before the world meet in Nanjing due to illness. In Chong Wei’s absence, the men’s doubles and mixed doubles were entrusted with the responsibility of ending the agonising wait but none accomplished it. But it’s not all gloom and doom as Malaysia still enjoyed one of their best outings in recent years. The nation was represented in three out of the five events in the quarter-finals for the first time since the 2006 edition in Madrid. And it took an independent shuttler Liew Daren to make it a memorable outing for Malaysia. Starsport’s TAN MING WAI gives his assessment on the performances of Malaysian shuttlers in Nanjing, China.
MEN’S SINGLES