PROTON MALAYSIA OPEN Day 2

PROTON MALAYSIA OPEN Day 2 - Just Du it!

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 07:17

Another rising star from China made his mark in the Super Series as Du Pengyu (pictured) beat Korea’s Park Sung Hwan in two games to earn a shot at title-holder Lee Chong Wei.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent, live in Kuala Lumpur. Photos: Yves Lacroix, BadmintonPhoto (live)

The mixed doubles started the very competitive second day of the 2010 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series with some very interesting matchups. New pair Yoo Yeon Seong / Park Sun Young of Korea had been promoted from qualifying only to face the World Champion Danes Laybourn/Rytter Juhl. The Koreans took the first game 22-20, prompting Laybourn to send his racquet flying in frustration but the Danes got it together to stay on the offensive and take the next two games.

In the adjacent court, it was a near repeat of the 2008 European Championship final with Heather Olver proving to be a promising replacement for the retired Donna Kellog. Olver and veteran partner Anthony Clark (pictured below) just squeaked by in the first game but looked more confident in the third as they took the match 23-21, 12-21, 21-16.

Finally, in court 3, you had last year’s quarter-finalists Chen/Chou of Chinese Taipei against last week’s surprise semi-finalists Maeda/Hirata of Japan. That Malaysian fans really know a good badminton match when they see one was evidenced by the fact that the Japan/Taiwan attracted far more attention than did the Malaysian pair in court four. But it doesn’t get any closer than the 22-20, 20-22, 27-25. It was Chen/Chou who proved the most consistent in the closing minutes as they finished on their 3rd match point from among two games.

One of the early matches in women’s singles was a telling statement on the relevance of junior success. 2008 World Junior Championship runner-up Sayaka Sato was up against China’s Wang Shixian. The thing is that though Wang was that same year’s Asian Junior Championship runner-up, no one thinks of her in those terms any more. She is now a two-time Super Series champion and, in fact, the last time she was in Malaysia, she fired straight through qualifying to take her first ever major title.

Sato, on the other hand, lags behind Wang Shixian in recent tournament successes just as far as she did on the scoreboard this morning as Wang proceeded to move the Japanese player around the court and never gave her a chance before closing it out 21-14, 21-6.

Wang is trying to be realistic about her chances this time visiting Malaysia, though. At the press conference following her opening match, she said that the Korea Open was already a good start to the season but that she hasn’t targeted the Malaysian title because there are so many strong players here. Instead, she is now focussed on booking a spot on China’s Uber Cup team, something that will be tough with three other Wangs, plus Jiang Yanjiao and World Champion Lu Lan in the pool.

As the matches moved into the afternoon, another young Chinese player saw success as Du Pengyu scrambled all over the court to retrieve the best that Park Sung Hwan could fire at him and won in two games, 21-16, 21-17. As soon as Du glimpsed Park’s final error, which gifted him the match, he fell to the floor rejoicing as if he’d won the championship final.

“I feel very happy and confident after beating Park,” said Du after the match. “I celebrated like that because I trained very hard and now it has all paid off.”

Du, who will turn 22 on Friday, lost narrowly to Park Sung Hwan (pictured) in the quarter-finals of the recent China Open. “I don’t really have a secret for beating Park. I didn’t think much about that match today but after playing him last time, I did play more patiently because I knew I couldn’t win a rally with one attack. If I am not patient, it is too easy to make mistakes.

“I haven’t prepared for playing Lee Chong Wei because I didn’t feel I could beat Park. Lee is the top player in the world and he is very stable so there is no secret to beating him but I will go over strategy with my coach.”

For complete results from Day 2 of the 2010 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series, CLICK HERE

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