The year-end feasting and festivities are over and Singapore's badminton players will head into their 2023 opener at the Jan 10-15 Malaysian Open ready to build on their successes last season.
But their first outing of the year in Kuala Lumpur will be a challenging one, with the players receiving tough draws in the Super 1000 tournament, which carries a prize purse of US$1.25 million (S$1.67 million).
In the men's singles, world No. 6 Loh Kean Yew will meet China's Li Shifeng in the first round and could face Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn - who beat him twice in 2022 in the SEA Games singles final and last eight of the World Championships in the quarter-finals.
India's 2022 Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen and Malaysian star Lee Zii Jia are also in the same half of the draw.
But former world champion Loh is not worried, saying: "I'm focusing one match at a time. Hopefully, I'll be able to perform well."
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 10, 2023-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 10, 2023-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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