By Merey Tan
Derek Wong of Singapore in action against Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Tuesday, June 18, 2013 — Singapore’s top seeded male shuttler, Derek Wong, went down 1–2 (21–18, 15–21, 15–21) to Malaysian Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the qualifiers of the 2013 Li-Ning Singapore Open. The loss meant Derek did not make the main draw of the tournament.
For Derek, ranked 65th in the OSIM BWF World Superseries, this was his first encounter against the 45th ranked Malaysian. He overcame opening jitters to overtake his opponent after the interval to win the first set 21–18 with some well-positioned smashes.
Wishing to dictate the pace of the game from the second set, Derek increased the pace but ended up with unforced errors. Things took a turn for the worse and the match finished in just over an hour with results of 15-21 for the second and third set.
In the post match interview, Derek admitted that he made a few costly unforced errors and hopes to have a better showing in the BWF World Championship in China.
Later the same morning, Derek teamed up with Huang Chao to play in the men’s doubles qualifiers. They crashed out in two straight sets, 11–21, 19–21, to the Malaysian pair of Ong Jian Guo and Teo Kok Siang.
23 Team Singapore athletes in all battled it out during the qualifiers. The Singapore shuttlers that progressed to the round of 32 were the mixed doubles pairs of Terry Yeo and Yao Lei, Tan Zi Jian and Dellis Yuliana, Terry Hee and Fu Mingtian, Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo. Also through were the women’s singles players Gu Juan and Xing Aiying, and the women’s doubles pairs of Vanessa Neo and Yao Lei, as well as Elaine Chua and Yeo Jia Min. There are a total of 28 Singapore shuttlers taking part in this tournament.
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