Badminton: Tan aims to be third time lucky at world meet
Latest News, News, Top News 12:26 PM
PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles ace Tan Boon Heong aims
to be third time lucky at the World Badminton Championships, which
will be held in Paris from Aug 23-29.
Hopes are high on the 23-year-old Boon Heong and his partner Koo Kien Keat to live up to their top billing.
Boon Heong, of Kedah, is still rankled over the way they capitulated in the previous two outings – losing in the rubber games.
At the 2007 world meet in Kuala Lumpur, Boon Heong-Kien Keat went down 13-21, 21-17, 23-25 to Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda of Japan in the quarter-finals.
No easy path:
Tan Boon Heong (front) and Koo Kien Keat are expected to take on China’s
third ranked pair Chai Biao-Zhang Nan in the third round of the World
Championships.
Last year, a few crucial mistakes by
Boon Heong in the rubber game saw them losing 21-16, 14-21, 20-22 to
South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung in the semi-finals in India.
This time, he hopes they will rise to the occasion.
“To lose narrowly is really painful and I do not intend to go through it again,” said Boon Heong.
“Losing at my maiden world meet is understandable.
“But, at the second outing, we blew a golden chance to nick it. This time, I am determined to go all the way.”
Boon Heong, a former world junior champion with Hoon Thien How in 2004, said that the men’s doubles competition had grown more intense.
“It is getting tougher to win in the men’s doubles.
“You have to be really strong physically and mentally to go through. There is also the element of luck,” he said.
“Kien Keat and I are more confident of our game now.
“There are some areas we need to improve on.
“I think, if we can cut down on our mistakes, we have a chance of achieving good results in our third World Championships.”
The Malaysians are expected to take on China’s third ranked pair of Chai Biao-Zhang Nan in the third round.
Clear that and they will come face-to-face with their nemesis – Yong-dae-Jae-sung – in the quarter-finals.
Boon Heong-Kien Keat had a tough time before beating the Chinese in the semi-finals en route to winning the Malaysian Open this year.
And last week, they went down to Yong-dae-Jae-sung in a rubber game in the semi-finals of the Taiwan Open.
“Our closest battle with the Koreans was at last year’s world meet.
“They somehow have better finishing than us.
“This time, we hope to turn the tables on them if we meet them,” said Boon Heong.
Malaysia have reached the final of the men’s doubles only three times since the tournament’s inception in 1977 – Razif Sidek-Jalani Sidek (1987, Beijing), Cheah Soon Kit-Soo Beng Kiang (1993, Birmingham) and Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock (1997, Glasgow).
Hopes are high on the 23-year-old Boon Heong and his partner Koo Kien Keat to live up to their top billing.
Boon Heong, of Kedah, is still rankled over the way they capitulated in the previous two outings – losing in the rubber games.
At the 2007 world meet in Kuala Lumpur, Boon Heong-Kien Keat went down 13-21, 21-17, 23-25 to Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda of Japan in the quarter-finals.
No easy path:
Tan Boon Heong (front) and Koo Kien Keat are expected to take on China’s
third ranked pair Chai Biao-Zhang Nan in the third round of the World
Championships. This time, he hopes they will rise to the occasion.
“To lose narrowly is really painful and I do not intend to go through it again,” said Boon Heong.
“Losing at my maiden world meet is understandable.
“But, at the second outing, we blew a golden chance to nick it. This time, I am determined to go all the way.”
Boon Heong, a former world junior champion with Hoon Thien How in 2004, said that the men’s doubles competition had grown more intense.
“It is getting tougher to win in the men’s doubles.
“You have to be really strong physically and mentally to go through. There is also the element of luck,” he said.
“Kien Keat and I are more confident of our game now.
“There are some areas we need to improve on.
“I think, if we can cut down on our mistakes, we have a chance of achieving good results in our third World Championships.”
The Malaysians are expected to take on China’s third ranked pair of Chai Biao-Zhang Nan in the third round.
Clear that and they will come face-to-face with their nemesis – Yong-dae-Jae-sung – in the quarter-finals.
Boon Heong-Kien Keat had a tough time before beating the Chinese in the semi-finals en route to winning the Malaysian Open this year.
And last week, they went down to Yong-dae-Jae-sung in a rubber game in the semi-finals of the Taiwan Open.
“Our closest battle with the Koreans was at last year’s world meet.
“They somehow have better finishing than us.
“This time, we hope to turn the tables on them if we meet them,” said Boon Heong.
Malaysia have reached the final of the men’s doubles only three times since the tournament’s inception in 1977 – Razif Sidek-Jalani Sidek (1987, Beijing), Cheah Soon Kit-Soo Beng Kiang (1993, Birmingham) and Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock (1997, Glasgow).
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 12:26 PM.
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