Painful experience: Tee Kai Wun (right) and Man Wei Chong sustained knee and ankle injuries respectively in the Hanoi SEA Games. — AP
PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun are hoping to recover in time from their injuries to make their debuts in the Malaysian Open from June 28-July 3 in Kuala Lumpur.
Both Wei Chong and Kai Wun are fighting to be fit again after sustaining knee and ankle injuries respectively in the Hanoi SEA Games.
“Wei Chong and I are still undergoing rehabilitation. We really hope that we can recover and play in our first Malaysian Open,” said Kai Wun.
The 37th ranked pair will be looking to avoid double disappointment after missing out on the chance to fight for a medal in the individual event of the biennial Games.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun already have no choice but to miss the Indonesian Masters (June 7-12) and Indonesian Open (June 14-19).
They have never played in the Indonesian Open either and need to wait another year to do so. But one pair’s loss is another pair’s gain as compatriots Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will benefit from Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s absence in the Indonesian Open.
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists were slated to meet their younger teammates in the opening round but will now move to the next round without having to lift their racquets.
World No. 6 Aaron-Wooi Yik will most probably meet Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov (No. 28) in the second round.
A win could them pit them against either Taiwan’s Olympic gold medallists Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin or Indonesia’s Asian champions Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Rambitan in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, another pair, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani have a tough task right from the start as they open their campaigns against dangerous Indonesian combination Fajar Alfian and Rian Ardianto.
Fajar and Rian have been a thorn to Malaysia as they have beaten Aaron-Wooi Yik, Sze Fei-Izzuddin and another pair, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi this year.
Most recently, they stopped Aaron-Wooi Yik from reaching the final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok when they got the better of them in the semi-final.
The world No. 7 also denied Sze Fei-Izzuddin the Swiss Open title in March after overcoming them in the final. Thus, a win against them will be sweet revenge for the Malaysian pair and a big boost for their confidence.
It will not get any easier for the 12th ranked Malaysians though if they win, as they will most probably face off with yet another home pair, All-England champions Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana in the second round.
World No. 10 Yew Sin- Ee Yi, on the other hand, should get past the opening round easily as they were drawn against Denmark’s unheralded Jeppe Bay-Lasse Molhede.
But they will face an altogether harder task next against Japan’s reigning world champions and Thailand Open winners Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi.
