Malaysia on track for two badminton gold - Morten Frost

KUALA LUMPUR: National men's singles shuttlers will have a challenging path before they could come within reach of a medal at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games individual event.
Nonetheless Malaysia's two gold medal target in the mixed doubles and women's doubles are on the right track.
Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin is expected to face 2013 SEA Games bronze medalist Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in the quarter-finals and if he advance to the semi-finals, he will once again meet Jonatan Christie (Indonesia) who defeated him in straight sets in the team event yesterday.
Another singles player Lee Zii Jia will have an even more difficult route as he has been drawn to meet Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in the second round and if he could get pass the Indonesian, he will meet Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
BAM technical director Morten Frost Hansen said it is possible for Malaysia to achieve the targeted medal haul but the players will have to play very well.
"The men's singles are a tough one with Jii Zia to play Ihsan in second round. Men's doubles are a bit tricky as well ... I've briefly looked at the draw, I think we have a good mixed doubles draw so far," he told the media after the draw at Axiata Arena here today.
"Women's singles draw are as expected. I did notice Greysia Poli (Indonesia) is in the draw. So we have a good one and bad one, we will fight to the end to achieve what we wanted,"
Women's singles player Soniia Cheah has been drawn to meet Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand in the semi-finals while Goh Jin Wei will face Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia in the quarter-finals .
Mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai are expected to face stiff opposition against
Thailand's Bodin Issara-Savitree Amitrapai in the quarter-finals while Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See could be meeting Terry Hee-Tan Wei Han (Singapore) in the semi-finals.
In the women's doubles, Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei have been drawn to meet Indonesia's Greysia Polii-Apriyani Rahayu in the semi-finals while Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean can expected a tough fight from Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the quarter-finals.
For the men's doubles, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi who are expected to progress to the quarter-finals, will be meeting either Tep Chanmara-Yan Kosal of Myanmar or Duc Phat Le-Quoc Viet Tran of Vietnam. — Bernama