MALAYSIA OPEN 2008 - The Youngs are Gone, the Old Guns Back

It has been an exciting week for badminton in Malaysia so far. It’s only on the 2nd round and there have been a lot of upsets and surprises. Fans are definitely getting their money's worth coming to the stadium today where the action never stops from start until the end.

There were mixed feelings on the Malaysian bench after their men’s doubles performances. The number one pair of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong lost to the fired up Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark in three hard games “There was no pressure for the boys to win it in Malaysia. They played their best but there were a lot of errors. The Danes played well,” says Rexy Mainaky.

Fortunately for the home fans, Lee Wah Wah and Choong Tan Fook advanced to the quarter-final when they disposed of their teammates Ong Soon Hock and Tan Bin Shen 19-21, 21-18, 21-18. But the surprise news is that Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng (pictured above) advanced to the quarter-finals by beating a pair from Chinese Taipei, 21-13, 13-21, 21-14.

“We didn’t expect to get this far. We were the underdogs. Tomorrow will be another challenge where both Choon Eng and I will know where we stand as we will be facing China's #1 pair of Fu Hai Feng and Cai Yun. We are going to play our best,” says Chong Ming, who didn’t even have time to go on a honeymoon with his wife Janice after their wedding in Kuala Lumpur a few days before the tournament.

Japanese girls are back !

The Japanese women's team had a strong showing with two of their doubles pairs and two singles competitors advancing to Friday's quarter-finals. Their only disappointment was Kanako Yonekura, who lost to Tine Rasmussen in 2 tight games 21-19, 21-19.

“I just couldn’t capitalize and wrap up the first set when I was leading. Tine played strongly and managed to put me off my game. Then she stepped on the gas in the middle of second set and I found it hard to catch up with her even though I tried to keep it close. Tine played well. I just need to go back to the drawing board and prepare myself for the next tournament in Korea, in which, coincidentally, I will be facing Tine again. I hope I will be able to win when I meet her there,” said Kanako.

Japan was delighted however with Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna’s win over Vita Marissa and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia. “We played well today, but we will try to play better tomorrow as we will be going to face Du Jing and Yu Yang of China. It is not easy playing against the Chinese. We will do our best and hope the crowd will cheer for us tomorrow,” said the Japanese.

Another golden Japanese pair, Ogura and Shiota (photo), didn’t disappoint the crowd as they steamrolled over Endang Nursugianti and Rani Mudiasti of Indonesia 21-11, 21-9. When asked about their chances tomorrow against Koreans Lee and Lee Reiko replied “We will take one point at a time. Definitely a tough match to play, but we are optimistic that we will do well.”