PETALING JAYA: Misfortunes struck a few men’s singles shuttlers in the German Open but expect all of them to strike back at the All-England.
You better watch out: (from left) Men’s singles shuttlers Lee Zii Jia, Kodai Naraoka, Lu Guangzu and Kunlavut Vitidsarn will be out to stop high-riding Viktor Axelsen from winning his third All-England title this week.
The tournament in Mulheim last week saw the premature exits of rising stars Kodai Naraoka of Japan, Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, Lu Guangzu of China who conceded walkovers due to injuries while there was also a massive defeat for Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the second round.
Naraoka, Kunlavut and Guangzu withdrew half way through their matches in Mulheim but their early exit could turn out to be a blessing in disguise as they will have plenty of energy to challenge for honours in the prestigious event starting today in Birmingham.
The 21-year-old Naraoka retired (21-23, 21-14, 11-5) in a match against eventual champion Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the opening round while the 21-year-old Kunlavut conceded a walkover (21-15, 7-4 )in the first round against Li Shifeng of China.
Guangzu, 26, went further in Germany but pulled out in the quarter-finals (17-21, 8-6) against Angus.
Zii Jia also suffered a major blow when he squandered a good lead in the second round before losing to unheralded Lee Chia-hao of Taiwan.
All four of them are in the same lower half with second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia. Except for Guangzu, the others are seeded in the All-England.
“It’ll be interesting to see their form in the All-England. We hope they will save their best here as we want to see a good competition in the men’s singles,” said national singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann.
Guangzu will face seventh seed Naraoka in the opening round while sixth seed Kunlavut has a tricky first round with two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan. On a good day, Kunlavut showed he can beat the giants of the game as he has beaten Viktor Axelsen in the Indian Open final this year.
Momota showed signs of a revival when he reached the semi-finals in Germany before losing tamely to Shifeng.
World No. 4 Zii Jia has a better chance in the first round as he will face Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin but barring any upset, he may face Naraoka in the quarter-finals and potential meeting with Jonatan in the semi-finals.
Zii Jia was the last Malaysian to win the All-England title in 2021.
On Zii Jia, Choong Hann said: “His confidence is low after another demoralising defeat but let’s hope he will make a strong comeback at the All-England. After all, he did well here before.”
But the favourite is none other than Axelsen of Denmark.
The Olympic champion, who skipped the German Open, is eyeing his third All-England title, having won in 2020 and 2022.
The defending champion and top seed has a good draw as he will face Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the first round.
If he wins, he will face the winners of the match between Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong and Shesar Hiren of Indonesia.
Tze Yong has just recovered from illness and Choong Hann said: “It will be a tough opener for Tze Yong but we hope there will be a good effort from him.”
GERMAN OPEN RESULTS
FINAL
Men’s singles: Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) bt Li Shifeng (Chn) 20-22, 21-18, 21-18.
Men’s doubles: Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho (Kor) bt Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) 21-19, 18-21, 21-19.
Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt An Se-young (Kor) 21-11, 21-14.
Women’s doubles: Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) bt Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) 21-19, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (Kor) 21-4, 21-15.
