S’pore Badminton Open champion Anthony Ginting aims for hat-trick

SINGAPORE – There is an extra spring in his step as Anthony Ginting returns this week to the Singapore Badminton Open, a happy hunting ground for the Indonesian as he targets a third consecutive title at the May 28-June 2 tournament.

Ahead of the US$850,000 (S$1.15 million) event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the 27-year-old said in a press conference: “Every time I come here, there’s a happy feeling. One of the things I like is the tournament itself but outside the tournament, I also like going around and relaxing.

“Maybe because of this environment, I’m not very stressed about what happens in the tournament and just enjoy being here.”

The world No. 7 knows that retaining his title will not be easy, noting that “it’s a new week now, a new tournament, a new competition”. He faces a tough challenge in the first round in Malaysian Lee Zii Jia, who won the Thailand Open and finished second at the Malaysia Masters in May.

If Ginting progresses, a possible match-up against world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen awaits in the quarter-finals. The Dane is raring to go after encountering a hiccup on his way to Singapore from the Malaysia Masters.

After winning the event in Kuala Lumpur, Axelsen missed his flight and had to take a five-hour van ride here.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit with injuries over the last few months, so I’ve had a bumpy start to the year,” said the Olympic champion, who held a meet-and-greet session with fans in conjunction with Danish milk powder supplier Let’s Eco at the Shangri-La Singapore on May 27.

“But last week in Malaysia was a really good week for me... Of course, the Olympics is the most important thing coming up, so hopefully I can peak for real during the Olympics in Paris, but this was a good step in the right direction.”

With the Paris Games less than two months away, every tournament will be crucial for Ginting and his rivals.

After ending Indonesia’s 17-year wait for a medal in the men’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics, Ginting will be hoping to notch another milestone and become the third player from his country to win the men’s event.

The first was Alan Budi Kusuma, who won the title in 1992 when badminton was introduced as an official medal sport, before Taufik Hidayat repeated the feat in 2004.

Ginting said: “The Olympics is the main goal, it happens every four years. You may get the ticket to play in the Olympics now but the next time you may not get it.

“Everybody’s just focusing on the same thing and I’m just grateful that I have the support of the association.”

Singapore’s world No. 12 Loh Kean Yew will be counting on home support as he aims to become the first local men’s singles champion since Wee Choon Seng in 1962.

The 26-year-old

will face China’s world No. 19 Lu Guangzu

in the first round on May 28.

Loh said: “It means a lot to play in front of a home crowd. We always receive a lot of support here, so I’m looking forward to it.”

In the women’s singles, 18th-ranked Singaporean Yeo Jia Min is returning from an Achilles injury and will face China’s world No. 8 He Bingjiao.

The 25-year-old said: “Last week was a roller coaster for me – I took it day by day and did my best with what I could do to make sure I get back to close to 100 per cent.

“Thankfully I was able to recover relatively fast, so I’m focusing on maintaining that and I will try to do well.”

In the mixed doubles, Singapore’s world No. 17 Terry Hee and Jessica Tan will take on South Korea’s world champions Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung.

Chinese Taipei’s world No. 4 Tai Tzu-ying will not feature at the Singapore Open after withdrawing with injury from the women’s singles on May 27, joining men’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn on the list of notable absentees.