Saturday, October 11, 2008

Wong Mew Choo

Wong Mew Choo is a female badminton singles player from Malaysia.

She is known for her exceptional endurance and stamina, the result of training alongside male shuttlers. Without any significant attacking arsenals, she initially built her game based on fitness and defence, with the ability to run a continuous, long rally; sending everything back to tactically superior opponents until a mistake or an attacking opportunity appears. Such tactics have served her well, but put a lot of pressure on her knees and ankles. She has been known to suffer from various long term injuries in her playing career.

Recently, Mew Choo has been playing with more aggression, power and speed. She now shows more willingness to take the initiative and occasionally does unexpected things to keep opponents guessing, such as engaging them into tight net dribbles, which she did in her match against Zhang Ning in the China Open.

History


She first came to prominence in the 2003 Southeast Asian Games badminton women's singles, when she won the gold medal, along the way beating Singapore's Li Li, then the reigning Commonwealth Games Champion.

2005





*She competed at the 2005 World Badminton Championships in Anaheim and reached the second round. Mew Choo managed two quarterfinal appearances, in the Denmark Open and 2005 Asian Badminton Championships.




*She managed a semifinal finish despite losing a tough encounter with Mia Audina. Later that year, she qualified again for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games women's singles badminton final, but had to settle for silver, losing to Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia.

2006


In the in Melbourne, she helped clinch the gold medal in the mixed team event, taking the crucial point against England's Tracy Hallam that gave Malaysia the lead 2-1. Eventually the team won 3-1 over for the first time in Games history. However, Hallam exacted revenge in the individual events women's singles final.

In the 2006 World Badminton Championships, she reached the third round before losing to Zhang Ning.

Her best achievement of the year was in the semifinals, losing to eventual winner Zhu Lin. She also reached the quarterfinals.

2007






*The year 2007 was Wong Mew Choo's best year. She started by reaching the finals of the , defeating big names like Pi Hongyan and Xu Huaiwen on her way. At the , she beat Chinese Lu Lan to become the first Malaysian women's singles player to qualify in the women's singles quarterfinal. Lu claimed revenge in the 2007 Asian Badminton Championships.




*Her biggest win was at the 2007 World Badminton Championships third round, where she shocked China's Xie Xingfang in straight sets to become the first Malaysian women's singles player to reach the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur. However, her progress was stopped by Zhu Lin, who went on to take the title.




*She was beaten in the first round of the , but quickly rebounded a week later, at the . Wong defeated higher ranked players like . However, Mew Choo lost to Xie Xingfang in the semifinal




*Wong Mew Choo, who is unseeded and has not won any major championship since the , delivered a brilliant performance in Guangzhou, China by beating all the top three female shuttlers from China in succession, starting with Zhu Lin, Zhang Ning, and finally Xie Xingfang in three sets in the final. She became the one of only a few non-Chinese winners of the China Open. She also became the first Malaysian woman to lift an international title outside the country.

2008






*Mew Choo started the year by reaching the semifinal of before losing to Zhu Lin once again.

*She played in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, becoming the quarter-finalist after her defeat from Lu Lan of China.

Achievement




Personal life


Lee Chong Wei is her boyfriend.

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