Energy-sapping: Liew Daren in action against India’s H.S. Prannoy in the first round. — Bernama
LIEW Daren had a great opportunity to give the hosts a rousing start in search of the Malaysian Open men’s singles crown but the independent shuttler fell short against India’s H.S. Prannoy.
Prannoy, whose win helped India upstage Denmark 3-2 to reach the Thomas Cup final in Bangkok last month, took advantage of Daren’s inconsistent performance to earn a 21-14, 17-21, 21-18 win in the first-round clash that lasted 62 minutes.
A good fan turnout of close to 5,000 cheered to keep Daren in the game but the 34-year-old shuttler was unable to take control of the draught at court 1 and also made too many unforced errors to allow Prannoy to sail into the next round.
Daren reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Open last month but was shown a first-round exit in the Indonesian Masters and the Indonesian Open and the trend continued in Bukit Jalil.
“This is the first time that I see a big crowd on the opening day and I blew the chance to move into the next round. In our last meeting I beat him but it was also close. Today he played better towards the end,” said Daren.
“My game has dropped as I have been playing back-to-back tournaments and did not have enough rest to have a good preparation. Hopefully, I can do better in next week’s Malaysian Masters but I have a tough opponent (Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong). Anyway, I have a week to prepare.”
Malaysia’s hopes will now rely on world No. 5 Lee Zii Jia who plays Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the first round today.
Ng Tze Yong, who earned his spot in the main draw after a spate of withdrawals, has a battle in his hands when he plays China’s Lu Guangzu.
Meanwhile, it was smooth sailing for the seeded players in the men’s singles except for Singapore’s world champion Loh Kean Yew who lost 19-21, 12-21 to Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
Kean Yew, who will skip next week’s Malaysian Masters to focus on the Singapore Open, said he was disappointed with his performance against Cheuk Yiu who is currently being coached by Malaysian Wong Tat Meng.
“It’s not about being unable to go past the first round but I’m disappointed with my game. I need to do better in terms of tactics, movements and control,” lamented Kean Yew.
“He is a tough opponent but I’m more concerned with the way I performed. As a world champion, it’s not about the expectations. Nobody is expected to win all the time. I just did not play to my best.”
