Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian badminton superstar and World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei has a great chance of winning the men’s singles titles next week at the Dubai World Superseries Finals, but, he may need to play the tournament without guidance from Hendrawan.
Lee’s coach, Hendrawan who was scheduled to accompany Lee to the tournament on Sunday has yet to receive his visa.
Lee, however, has already left for Dubai Sunday morning with another men’s singles player, Cheam June Wei who will serve as his sparring partner.
The Honorary Secretary of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), Ng Chin Chai, said there was a slight problem with Hendrawan’s Visa, and BAM would wait until Tuesday before making any decision.
“As of yesterday, Hendrawan has not yet received his visa and we are actively working on resolving the issue. Chong Wei’s first match will start on Thursday, so there’s still time,” said Ng.
“We have not made any decision on whether we are going to send another coach, let’s wait for few more days,” added Ng.
Lee who defeated Olympic champion Chen Long to win the Hong Kong Open two weeks ago, was happy that he could be accompanied by another BAM coach Tey Seu Bock in Hong Kong.
If Hendrawan couldn’t get his visa in time, it is very likely that BAM will send either Tey Sue Bock, Sairul Amar Ayob or Misbun Sidek to help Lee Chong Wei in Dubai.
In addition to Lee, Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing also qualified for the tournament and both Tan/Lai have departed to Dubai Sunday morning together with their coach Chin Eei Hui.
Below are qualifiers for the 2017 BWF Superseries Finals:
Men’s singles:
1. Son Wan Ho (Kor)
2. Kidambi Srikanth (Ind)
3. Shi Yuqi (Chn)
4. Lee Chong Wei (Mas)
5. Chou Tien Chen (Tpe)
6. Ng Ka Long (Hkg)
7. Chen Long (Chn)
8. Viktor Axelsen (Den).
Women’s singles:
1. Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn)
2. Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe)
3. Sung Ji Hyun (Kor)
4. P.V. Sindhu (Ind)
5. Ratchanok Intanon (Tha)
6. Sayaka Sato (Jpn)
7. He Bingjiao (Chn)
8. Chen Yufei (Chn).
Men’s doubles:
1. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina)
2. Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den)
3. Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn)
4. Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan (Chn)
5. Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda (Jpn)
6. Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding (Den)
7. Lee Jhe-huei-Lee Yang (Tpe)
8. Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn).
Women’s doubles:
1. Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto (Jpn)
2. Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn)
3. Chen Qingchen- Jia Yifan (Chn)
4. Christinna Pedersen-Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den)
5. Chang Ye-na-Lee So-hee (Kor)
6. Jung Kyung-eun-Seung-chan (Kor)
7. Yu Xiaohan-Huang Yaqiong (Chn)
8. Hsu Ya-hing-Wu Ti-ung (Tpe).
Mixed doubles:
1. Zheng Siwei-Chen Qingchen (Chn)
2. Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn)
3. Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir (Ina)
4. Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg)
5. Praveen Jordan-Debby Susanto (Ina)
6. Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock (Eng)
7. Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (Mas)
8. Kenta Kazuno-Ayane Kurihara (Jpn)
