KUALA LUMPUR: It will be a huge waste if Malaysian shuttlers do not capitalise on the luck of the draw at the Australian Open this week.
At the team managers meeting in Sydney today, more top players confirmed their withdrawals, paving the way for others to collect valuable ranking points from the World Tour event.
Among those set to benefit are national No. 1 Ng Tze Yong, and independent players Cheam June Wei and Soong Joo Ven.
World No. 34 Tze Yong, who initially faced a tough opener against Thailand's top men's singles Kunlavut Vitidsarn, will now play Australian Jacob Schueler in the first round tomorrow after the Thai ace pulled out.
Barring any upsets, the 22-year-old Malaysian is slated to take on South Korea's Heo Kwang Hee in the second round.
National men's singles coach Hendrawan noted that the draw has opened up for Tze Yong, but does not want the latter to put himself under any undue stress.
"Yes, Kunlavut has withdrawn and the draw has opened up for Tze Yong. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
"A likely match-up against Kwang Hee won't be easy. Let's allow Tze Yong to take it one match at a time," said Hendrawan.
Apart from June Wei and Joo Ven, who were promoted to the main draw from the qualifying rounds, another Malaysian who will try to capitalise on this good fortune is world No. 2 Lee Zii Jia.
Zii Jia, who wants to make the cut for the season-ending World Tour Finals in Guangzhou next month, now only needs to worry about China's Lu Guang Zu, who currently occupies the last spot on the World Tour rankings to earn automatic qualification.
Zii Jia, who needs to make the top eight of the World Tour, is slated to face the Chinese shuttler in the second round.
The other big names in the fray are former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and former world No. 2 Shi Yuqi of China.
The two players are in the bottom half of the draw, and are only expected to face Zii Jia if they reach the final on Sunday.