Help me out Lee Chong Wei, Hong Kong’s Angus Ng asks Malaysian great as he seeks semis spot in Dubai
The 23-year-old wants the former world No 1 to defeat South Korea’s Son in final round-robin match in order for him to qualify for last four in Dubai World Superseries finals
Hong Kong ace Angus Ng Ka-long is hoping Malaysian great Lee Chong Wei will do him a huge favour at the Dubai World Superseries finals as he eyes a semi-final spot in the year-end tournament.
Ng bounced right back into contention in the men’s singles after defeating South Korea’s former world No 1 Son Wan-ho 21-15, 13-21, 21-16 on Thursday. That victory made amends for Ng’s defeat against Lee in his earlier group A match on Wednesday and the 23-year-old Hong Kong star is now hoping the Malaysian will beat Son in his last round-robin match today.
“If [Lee] Chong Wei beats Son, that means I will probably finish in the top two of my group and that would qualify me for the semis,” said Ng, who last year won the Hong Kong Open title.
“It’s a great honour to be here competing against the world’s best players. I really hope I can get into the semi-finals. I’m hoping Chong Wei will help me out,” said Ng, who is ranked ninth in the world.
After losing 21-14, 21-13 to Lee on Thursday, Ng was back to his battling best, coming back from a second-game hiccup to notch one of his better victories of the year.
Watch: Angus Ng v Son Wan-ho at the Dubai World Superseries finals
“I actually beat my target in this tournament and that was to win at least one match in my group. Against Son, we were both running out of stamina in the second game. He won that but I stayed focused in the third game. I was exhausted in the end but I did enough to win.”
Asked about the long rallies he had to endure against the world number five South Korean, Ng said: “I kept telling myself to stay focused and to stick to my strategy. I’m glad I made it in the end.”
Ng actually has two wins on the board in his group after China’s Olympic champion Chen Long withdrew from the tournament at the eleventh hour after picking up a knee injury, meaning his opponents in group A received automatic walkovers.
Danish world champion Viktor Axelsen and China’s Shi Yuqi are likely to qualify from group B, which also includes Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen and India’s Srikanth Kidambi.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s mixed doubles pairing of Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet continued their marvellous form of 2017 by winning their second straight game. This year’s Danish Open champions, who are ranked fourth in the world, showed their consistency again by defeating Kenta Kazuno and Ayane Kurihara, of Japan, 21-16, 16-21, 21-6 in their group B match. That result will probably be good enough for them to earn a semi-final berth. They had earlier defeated Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto, 21-13, 14-21, 21-16 in group A.
