MALAYSIA OPEN 2011 Day 1 – Anand, Hyun Il too strong

The second round of the qualifying stage had many ups and downs. Local and foreign participants had their fair share of victories and defeats. Towards the end of a working day more audience flocked the stadium to watch their heroes battle on court, but Yogendran and Chan Kwong Beng bowed to more experienced players.

By Adrian Kok, Badzine Correspondent live in Kuala Lumpur.  Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live)

Anand Pawar from India played an explosive game against local player Yogendran Krishnan (photo) who had fought hard to get through the first leg of the qualifying round.  Anand won the first game 21-14. The crowd was full of support and cheered for Yogendran who won the second game 21-10.  Reducing his mistakes allowed him to gain more confidence. His opponent seemed quite surprised during most of the rallies as he played with a lot more focus. In the rubber game, there were many long rallies and diving on the court, but Anand turned the tables and won the rubber 21- 17.

On the next court, the experienced Korean singles veteran Lee Hyun Il battled with the Malaysian backup elite player Chan Kwong Beng. The crowd here in the stadium was behind the Malaysian. They cheered at every point won and even harder when a point was lost. Chan fought very hard in the entire match which stretched to a rubber game. He lost 21-16, 18-21, 21-18. After the match, Chan admitted that he was indeed nervous as he knew he was up against an experienced player.

“As the game progressed I became more confident in my game and believed that I could actually beat the experienced Korean,” said Chan. He further added that he was disappointed with the many unforced errors he made as it was uncalled for. At the end of the press conference, Chan stated that he was called up at the last minute for this tournament but he walked out with a great experience.

In the men’s doubles, Robert Blair and Flandy Limpele played ballistics game to win over the young Malaysian pair of Calvin Ong Jia Hong / Sant Enos Jani. Blair, who had already played three matches, did not show any sign of fatigue at all. Blair and Limpele won in two games 21-15, 21-9. The young Malaysian played a confident match even though they lost the first game with many locals giving their support. In the second game, they began to lose their focus and were butchered by Blair and Limpele.

All results HERE