Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan to skip Indian Open

Chong Wei, who has won the Indian Open on three occasions, bagged the prestigious All-England earlier this month and has decided to skip the Indian event to focus on his home tournament in Kuching. Dan, too, has decided to omit the Indian Open from his calendar after he recovered from his All-England loss to win the Swiss Open last week. 

Malaysian National coach Tey Seu Bock has said that now that both the players have taken some time off, he is expecting a strong performance from the duo in Kuching.

“We pulled Chong Wei out of the Indian Open based on his form in training. The All-England victory took a toll on him," Seu Bock was quoted saying by The Star.

“He’s not at his best right now. An extra week of training will give Chong Wei the time to be ready for the home tournament.” 

“Lin Dan is still hungry for titles. He’ll be even stronger at the Malaysian Open. The presence of Lin Dan and Chong Wei will make the men’s singles competition more interesting in Kuching."

Lin Dan is regarded as the greatest badminton player in history owing to his five World championships and two Olympic golds medals. But the Chinese star has never been able to win in Malaysia. He managed to reach the final on three occasions but was beaten by Chong Wei in 2005 and 2006 and Chen Long in 2015.