Koo-Tan tame gutsy Japanese duo to enter semis

THE last five minutes were awfully tense but Malaysia’s doubles pair of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong finally prevailed over the gutsy Japanese combination of Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa 15-21, 21-14, 21-17 to check into the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold.

The top seeds, who have yet to triumph since bagging the Malaysia Open Super Series title in January last year, blew hot and cold en route to defeating Endo-Hayakawa in 51 minutes.

And Kien Keat was quick to admit that “we need to adopt the right attitude if we are to end our title drought in Alor Setar”.

The Malaysians nearly muffed it up in the decider after taking a 17-14 lead in the rubber game, allowing the Japanese to level the score at 17-17.

Fortunately, a series of mistakes by Endo-Hayakawa allowed the edgy Malaysians to romp home.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong will take on surprise package Ruud Bosch-Koen Ridder of Holland in today’s semi-finals.

The Dutch pair sensationally dumped third seeds Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano of Indonesia 22-20, 21-18.

Kien Keat acknowledged that they were easily rattled when their opponents staged a last-minute rally.

“We had a slow start in the opening game but got into our groove in the second.

“But we seem to have some kind of phobia when our opponents reduce the gap and overtake us. This is what happened to us in the decider,” said Kien Keat.

“We need to take charge of the situation.

“We have the desire to win ... but now we need to have the right attitude.

“It is all about showing no mercy to your opponents.”

Kien Keat said he was surprised to see the Dutch pair in the last four.

“Probably, their opponents (Bona-Ahsan) underestimated them. We will not look down on their challenge tomorrow.

“They have done well to come this far and we will be ready,” he said.

Earlier, Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid-Vountus Indra Mawan’s gallant run came to a halt when they crashed 13-21, 17-21 to South Koreans Cho Gun-woo-Kwon Yi-goo.

Said Vountus: “It has been a great learning experience for us here. We lacked consistency and we have to work on it.

“But this is certainly a good start for us.

“It will motivate us to work even harder.”

Gun-woo-Yi-goo will take on Indonesia’s Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan in the semi-final.

Alven-Hendra edged Japanese pair 21-15, 17-21, 22-20 in another quarter-final match yesterday.

Quarter-final results:

Men’s singles: Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) bt Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) 21-18, 5-1 rtd; Bao Chunlai (Chn) bt Lee Hyun-il (Kor) 21-18, 13-21, 21-9; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Brice Leverdez (Fra) 21-17, 21-8; Sho Sasaki (Jpn) bt Park Sung-hwan (Kor) 12-21, 21-8, 21-16.

Men’s doubles: Ruud Bosch-Koen Ridder (Ned) bt Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano (Ina) 22-20, 21-18; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas)bt Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) 15-21, 21-14, 21-17; Cho Gun-woo-Kwon Yi-goo (Kor) bt Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid-Vountus Indra Mawan (Mas) 21-13, 21-17; Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan (Ina) bt Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) 21-15, 17-21, 22-20.

Women’s singles: Wang Xin (Chn) bt Ai Goto (Jpn) 23-21, 21-16; Saina Nehwal (Ind) bt Wang Lin (Chn) 14-21, 21-19, 21-19; Sung Hyun-ji (Kor) bt Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) 25-23, 13-21, 21-18; Bae Youn-joo (Kor) bt Aprilla Yuswandari (Ina) 21-16, 2-10.

Women’s doubles: Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii (Ina) bt Aneke Feinya Augustine-Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (Ina) 21-15, 22-20; Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Lotte Jonathans-Paulien van Doormalen (Ned) 21-12, 21-9; Shizuka Matsuo-Mami Naito (Jpn) bt Lita Nurlita-T. Saralee (Ina-Tha) 21-8, 21-13; Luo Ying-Luo Yu (Chn) bt Jung Kyung-eun-Kim Ha-na (Kor) 17-21, 21-12, 21-16.

Mixed doubles: A. Songphon-V. Kunchala (Tha) bt Maneepong Jongjit-Savitree Amitapai (Tha) 21-11, 21-15; Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying (Mas) bt Sudket Prapakamol-T. Saralee (Tha) 25-27, 21-17, 21-14; Tantowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Shintaro Ikeda-Reiko Shiota (Jpn) 21-15, 21-18; Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth (Ina) bt Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Ng Hui Lin (Mas) 21-6, 21-18.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:15 AM. Filed under Latest News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0