NG WEI The 22-year-old will lead the SAR's challenge in the men's singles at this week's Hong Kong Badminton Open having risen from 33 in the world rankings at the start of the year to 15. There's only been one Hong Kong Open since 1999. How will it feel playing at home again? We're playing in our local place, our own place after so many competitions in other countries. I feel relaxed about it, not too excited. How much will the support of the fans help? It'll help me to do my best. I get good support from my family. My parents are very easy on me and they're always telling me to stay cool. If I can get a medal my parents will be very happy but they don't put any pressure on me. My father is a businessman and he travels all over the place. He won't be able to come to watch. They won't be in the stadium, but I know in spirit they're there. You've lost three times to South Korean Lee Hyun-il in the past couple of months and he knocked you out of the Hong Kong Open in 1999. How happy are you that you're not in his section of the draw? He's the number two in the world now and the second seed here, so I'd have to reach the semi-finals to play him. I'm not sure I can get that far, because this is a really difficult tournament, but I've lost to him so many times that if I do face him I have to beat him this time. How high is the standard of the Hong Kong Open? It's more or less the same level as the World Championships. All the world's top players are coming. You've leapt up the rankings this year, and were as high as 10th last month. Why have you improved so much? I've been playing well and performing well. I got to the quarter-finals of the German and Indonesian Opens and the semi-finals of the Asian Championships. My fitness, my strength and my skills have all improved. How much higher can you go? I want to be the number one in the world. My aim is to get there in the next two years, but I have to improve so many things. I have to take every training session very seriously. I also have to keep competing at the highest level and learn something from every defeat.
