KUALA LUMPUR: The presence of national champion Misbun Ramdan is set to add spice to the men’s singles event in the Kuala Lumpur Open, which begins at Kuala Lumpur Badminton (KLBA) Stadium in Cheras on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old Ramdan is seen as one of the main challengers to the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) players in the second leg of the National Circuit.
The KL Open is Ramdan’s first tournament at home after walking out of the national team in January. He quit the BAM set-up after losing in the qualifying rounds of the Malaysian Open Super Series.
Ramdan now trains under Misbun, his father and former national singles coach. He has done well internationally, maintaining his world ranking at No. 44 and winning three out of the 12 tourna-ments he competed in. He was the winner of the Portuguese Interna-tional, Slovenia International and Greece International.
In the KL Open, Ramdan, who defeated a number of BAM players to become the champion in the National Championships in Alor Setar last December, is seeded third.
He is in the same half of the draw with top seed Chong Wei Feng and back-up shuttlers Loh Wei Sheng, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Goh Giap Chin and Soong Joo Ven.
Barring any upsets, Ramdan is expected to meet Wei Feng in the semi-finals. Wei Feng won the opening leg of the national circuit in Kedah in June.
In the lower half with second seed Liew Daren are Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayup, Choong Yee Han, Tan Kian Meng and Misbun Shawal, Ramdan’s younger brother.
Fourth seed Goh Soon Huat has withdrawn due to illness.
The race for the title is wide open as world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, undefeated in local competitions for a decade, has chosen not to compete to pave the way for the others to step up to the plate.
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