Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian badminton superstar Lee Chong Wei made a good start to the BWF Super Series Finals with a 21-14, 21-13 win over Angus Ng Ka Long on Wednesday.
Three weeks after winning Hong Kong Open for a record fifth time, Lee was back in action aiming to cap a remarkably successful run by lifting his fifth BWF Super Series finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai.
Lee who has won the Super Series Finals four times, in 2008,2009,2010 and 2013, only needed 40 minutes to beat Ng, avenging his loss to Ng in the China Open quarter-finals one month ago.
The World No. 2 Lee who is scheduled to play Rio Olympic champion Chen Long on Thursday, will have an extra day of rest after Chen pulled out with a knee injury at the last minute on Tuesday. Instead, Lee will meet Son Wan Ho of Korea on Friday.
Based on the BWF format, only the group champions and runners up will get to advance to the next stage. Depends on the Thursday’s results between Son Wan Ho and Angus Ng Ka Long. The situation in Group A will be tricky if Son Wan-Ho lost on Thursday and if Lee lose to Son Wan Ho on Friday.
In men’s singles Group B, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark also made a great start at the tournament with a straight sets win over Kidambi Srikanth 21-13, 21-17. China’s sole men’s singles representative Shi Yuqi also defeated Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-19, 21-17.
In mixed doubles, Malaysia’s Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing failed to grab the moment to go down to Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China, 12-21, 11-21 in their first Group B match.
They will take on Olympic Champions Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia on Thursday and Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock of England on Friday.
