SINGAPORE, 20 August 2003 — Former All England badminton champion Pullela Gopichand is on course for a place in the first round of the Singapore Open after an easy win in qualifying here yesterday.
Indian ace Gopichand, who is on the comeback trail after overcoming a series of niggling foot injuries, downed Malaysia’s Wei Chung Pei 15-5, 15-2 to put himself one win away from the main draw.
He now meets Kennevic Asuncion of the Philippines or Bo Rafn of Denmark today for a first round spot.
Gopichand’s fortunes have nosedived since his victory at the All England in 2000, and his ranking is so low that he has been forced to qualify for the $170,000 Singapore Open grand prix event.
Gopichand is looking for a good performance in Singapore, and following events in Malaysia and Indonesia, in order to pick up ranking points to qualify for next year’s Athens Olympics.
“It’s my big push to improve my world ranking. My aim right now is to qualify for Athens. Titles will come, I’m not really thinking about winning just yet,” said a smiling Gopichand after yesterday’s match.
“It’s the points that really matter. The last two years have been a real disappointment but now all that is past. I’m looking forward to a second innings.”
The Singapore Open features the world champions in all five categories. World champion Xia Xuanze starts as one of the favorites in the men’s singles, where he is likely to face a stiff challenge from Wong Choong Han of Malaysia, a finalist here in 2001.
The top billing among men has gone to defending champion Chen Hong of China and Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark is seeded second. Both have been placed ahead of Xia and Wong, who are seeded third and fourth.
Among the women, world champion Zhang Ning of China has pride of place followed by compatriot Gong Ruina. Defending women’s champion Zhou Mi is seeded fifth behind Mia Audina Tjiptawan of the Netherlands and Wang Chen of Hong Kong.
