Another early exit for Zakry-Fairuzizuan

PETALING JAYA: The national men’s pair of Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari have made life even more miserable for themselves after losing in the first round of the Swiss Open in Basel on Wednesday.

Zakry-Fairuzizuan ran out of steam after a good start and went down 12-21, 14-21 to All-England runners-up Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark in 32 minutes.

The defeat has certainly diluted their chance to make a second appearance in the Thomas Cup Finals, which will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from May 9-16.

And the duo may also miss the World Championships, which will be held in Paris from Aug 18-23.

They are now ranked 18th in the world and may slip a few rungs after the first-round exit in the Swiss Open.

Three Malaysian pairs are currently ranked ahead of them – Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (No. 1), Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (No. 9) and Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen (No. 13).

Fairuzizuan said they were all fired up to make a difference but just did not know what triggered their downfall on Wednesday.

“We did give a good fight at least in the first 11 points. Then, it all fell apart and I do not know how and why. We lost our sense of direction in the game,” said Fairuzizuan in a telephone interview yesterday.

“I know we do not have any good results to show thus far but we still hope that we will be considered for the Thomas Cup Finals. I hope that our commitment in training will be taken into account.”

It was the second time this year that Fairuzizuan-Zakry were eliminated in the first round. The exit in the Malaysian Open in January resulted in them getting the axe from the squad for the All-England last week.

All-England quarter-finalists Teik Chai-Bin Shen were also eliminated in the first round – losing 21-14, 15-21, 16-21 to Japanese Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong and the women’s pair of Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, who were first-round casualties at the All-England, cleared their opening match in Basel.

* Matches involving Malaysians

■ FIRST ROUND

Men’s doubles: Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong bt Kasper Faust Hendriksen-Anders Kristiansen (Den) 21-10, 21-19; Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari 21-12, 21-14; Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato (Jpn) bt Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen 14-21, 21-15, 21-16.

Women’s doubles: Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty bt Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa (Ind) 21-15, 18-21, 21-9.

Mixed doubles: Koo Kien Keat-Wong Pei Tty bt Fang Chien-min-Wang Pei-rong (Tpe) 21-18, 21-15.

■ SECOND ROUND

Mixed doubles: Second round: Lee Yong-dae-Lee Hyo-jung (Kor) bt Kien Keat-Pei Tty 21-13, 22-20.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:23 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0