Chong Wei Heads Malaysian Challenge At Indonesia Open 2018

JAKARTA, July 3 (Bernama) -- After clinching his 12th Malaysia Open title Sunday, it all seems possible for national ace Lee Chong Wei to create another extraordinary success story, this time by being the most frequent winner of the Indonesia Open title, as the 2018 edition of the tournament begins Tuesday. So far, Chong Wei has won the title six times, namely in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. Being the seventh-seeded player at the tournament, Chong Wei appeared to have quite an easy path until the semi final in which he is expected to play against promising Japanese shuttler, Kento Momota. In the first round, Chong Wei, 36, who is now world number six, will be playing against Angus Ng Ka Long from Hong Kong before facing either world number 12 Kenta Nisihimoto of Japan or world number 16 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the second round. If the Rio Olympics silver medalist managed to defeat Momota at the semi final, there is a huge possibility that he will be facing world number one Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the final. As for Momota, who is now world number 11, he was seen not to have much problem to win over fourth-seeded K.Srikanth from India in the first round. The 23-year-old player, who is the runner-up at the Malaysia Open 2018, is expected to have a smooth sail in the second round when he plays against host shuttler Anthony Ginting before facing either Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan or another host player Tommy Sugiarto at the quarter final. In this edition of Indonesia Open tournament, none of Malaysian women’s singles are contesting. For the men's doubles, Malaysian challenges will be borne by Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ei Yi, and Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong. For the mixed events, the two national pairs are Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean, and Vivian Hoo-Yap Cheng Wen. The Indonesia Open offers a total cash prize of US$1.2 million. -- BERNAMA