He came down with food poisoning at the Asian championships in Chennai in May after retaining the individual title by defeating Pakistan’s Aamir Atlas Khan in the final. It affected his performance in the team final, losing to Aamir in Malaysia’s 1-2 defeat by Pakistan.
The 28-year-old Azlan, who is ranked no. 14 in the world, said that he would have to be cautious on what he ate in New Delhi.
“I stayed and ate food in a five-star hotel in Chennai and yet I suffered food poisoning,” said Azlan, who has won 12 Professional Squash Association (PSA) titles since turning professional in 2000.
“I hope that I will not suffer the same fate in Delhi. I made a request to the NSC (National Sports Council) for our own chef but they turned it down,” said Azlan. “I have to be very careful with what I eat in the Games Village cafeteria because I have to be at my best to challenge for honours.”
Azlan will be featuring in the Commonwealth Games for the fourth time. He made his debut in the 1998 KL Games and his best effort was reaching third round in the 2006 edition in Melbourne.
In the Delhi Games, besides the individual competition, Azlan will partner Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan for the men’s doubles.
In the individual event, six seeded Azlan opens his campaign against James Bentick of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He is expected to reach the quarter-finals for a match against fourth seed Daryl Selby of England, whom he lost to in straight sets in the first round of Hong Kong Open in August.
The top two seeds are England’s Nick Matthew and James Willstrop, who are ranked second and fifth in the world respectively.
Three other Malaysians will feature in the men’s individual competition.
World No. 19 and ninth seed Ong Beng Hee will play against Lazaruz Chilufya of Zambia in the opening round while Mohd Nafiizwan has a match against Hartaj Bains of Kenya. Ivan Yuen, takes on James Matewere of Malawi.
The Malaysians in the women’s competition are world No. 1 Nicol David, Low Wee Wern, Delia Arnold and Sharon Wee.
No comments:
Post a Comment