Singapore: After several last-minute withdrawals from players such as Indonesia’s world No. 8 Tommy Sugiarto, Japan’s world No. 13 Sho Sasaki, Thailand’s world No. 13 mixed doubles pair Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam, India’s world No. 1 women’s singles Saina Nehwal and world No. 9 P.V. Sindhu, the action-packed qualifying rounds of the 2015 OUE Singapore Open has kicked off on Tuesday and it offered the best chance for some players to shows off her badminton skills.
Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng and Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka both have benefited from the withdrawal of Tommy Sugiarto and Sho Sasaki, will face each other in the first round of the main draw on Wednesday.
Last year’s Singapore Open men’s singles champion, Simon Santoso of Indonesia cruised through to the main draw after dispatching Denmark’s Emil Holst 21-19, 21-18 and India’s Ajay Jayaram 21-16, 21-18. Santoso will take on Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif of Malaysia on Wednesday.
Meanwile, Malaysia’s men’s singles player Daren Liew faltered at the first hurdle when he was defeated by Ajay Jayaram of India 13-21, 21-14, 17-21 as he began his first qualification match; another Malaysian shuttler, former world junior champion from Malaysia Zulfadli Zulkiffli admitted to suffering from exhaustion in his second qualifier following his one hour and twenty one minutes battle with Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon in the first qualifying match, which Zulkiffli won by 19-21 23-21 21-16.
“It was a very poor arrangement, I have to return to court for my second match only after a 40-minute rest,” said Zulkiffli.
“I was really tired and was forced to retire only six minutes into the second match,” added the unhappy Zulkiffli.
Badminton stars such as Chen Long, Jan Jorgensen, and Kidambi Srikanth will be in first round action at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
