Badminton Camp Loses Key Men's Doubles Player

From Ahmad Muliady Abdul Majid INCHEON (South Korea), Sept 19 (Bernama) -- National doubles player, Tan Boon Heong has to sit out of the 17th Asia Games for a while after having hurt his left thigh during training at the Jugra Stadium in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Tan, who is supposed to partner Hoon Thien How, will not play in second men's doubles match scheduled to take place at the Gyeyang Gynasium on Sept 24, after getting a bye for the first match. National doubles coach, Pang Cheh Chang said the duty would be taken over by Hoon Thien How. "It is really worrying me when reserve player, Lim Khim Wah also suffered an injury to the heel of his right leg when performing jumps on Wednesday causing me to decide quickly to replace Tan with another player," he told Bernama during a training session of the national badminton athletes at the Gyeyang Stadium near here. Pang said he hoped Tan would recover quickly and he was not sure how many matches Tan would miss. "We have still not taken Tan to see the doctor from the National Sports Institute (ISN) to determine the extent of his injury," he said. He said the 27-year-old player had never experienced an injury to the thigh prior to this and it was the first injury he was facing. Meanwhile, Tan said he would quickly check with specialists from ISN to get advice on the level of seriousness of his injury. "I hope I can quickly recover so that I can play in the matches against Macau or Mongolia on Sept 24 because I have made a serious preparation prior to this," he said. The Badminton Association of Malaysia has targeted at least two silver medals (in men's singles and doubles) and a bronze (men's team) this time. At the Asian Games in Guangzhou four years ago, Malaysia won two silver via Lee Chong Wei (men's singles) and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (men's doubles). --BERNAMA