DOWN AND OUT: Indonesia’s Akbar Panji fails to return a shot from Hafiz during their first round match at the Unimas Sports Complex yesterday. — Photo by Muhd Rais Sanusi
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Despite still aggravating an injury on his Achilles tendon, experienced national shuttler and crowd favourite Mohd Hafiz Hashim still has the magic touch yesterday as he won his first match here in the 2012 Maybank International Challenge.
The former All-England champion defeated Indonesia’s Akbar Panji to register his first win in the tournament.
The match between the duo was dragged to a rubber set as both shuttlers fought tooth and nail.
Hafiz got a scare when he lost his first set 10-21. The setback in the first set however did not kill his determination as he bounced back to win the second set, 21-19.
During the decider, Akbar started showing signs of losing focus, most probably due to fatigue.
This gave the more experienced Hafiz to capitalise on the chance as he easily won the set 21-8.
Commenting on his likelihood of winning the tournament, Hafiz played down his chances by commenting that his visit to Sarawak is to have fun and not give himself too much pressure.
“Although I am top seed in this tournament, I do not have a specific goal. I just want to have fun here in Kuching while I recuperate from my injury,” he added.
He will next square off with India’s Abhimanyu Singh in the second round of the competition today.
In another development, Hafiz confirmed the reports that he wish to retire for good from the game should he not achieve total recovery from his recurring injury.
This tournament in Kuching might be his swansong.
“Maybe one more year won’t hurt but for now it looks like I need to be more patience (regarding his injury). I’ll see if things might get better for me next year,” he commented.
One of Hafiz’s preferred roles in badminton should he retire next year is coaching. He is reported to have a coaching stint in India last August and conducts private coaching in his free time.