Boon Heong hopes to come up with new ideas on assault for world title

KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles shuttler Tan Boon Heong hopes the extra days spent in solitude at the Bath University in London will help him to come up with new ideas on how to end the unbeaten run against South Korea’s No. 2 pair of Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong in the World Champion­ships.

Boon Heong and Koo Kien Keat will be making their fourth attempt at winning the world title when they begin their challenge at the world series in Wembley from Aug 8-14.

They are currently undergoing the final phase of training at the university with the other Malaysian shuttlers.

The team left for Bath on Wednesday and will travel to Wembley on Aug 4.

The world No. 4-ranked Kien Keat-Boon Heong are Malaysia’s best bets for honours in the men’s doubles as nothing much is expected from the other two pairs – Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How and youngsters Lim Khim Wah-Chan Peng Soon.

In this year’s world meet, Boon Heong-Kien Keat have been drawn in the same quarter with the “invincible” Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong, China’s Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan, Germany’s Ingo Kindervater-Johannes Schoettler and Taiwan’s Chen Hung-ling-Lin Yu-lang.

The Malaysians have beaten the others but have lost on all four occasions against the Koreans – at the Swiss Open (2010), Singapore Open (2010), China Open (2010) and the Super Series Masters Finals (2011).

If they can break the duck against the Koreans, they may take on one of these pairs in the semi-finals – second seeds Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark, Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata of Japan, Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano of Indonesia and China’s Chai Biao-Guo Zhengdong.

Both Zakry-Thien How and Khim Wah-Peng Soon are in the same top half with three big guns – top seeds and three-time world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China, Olympic and former world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung.

The 23-year-old Boon Heong described the draw for the world meet as a tricky one.

“Somehow, we always find ourselves facing players we struggle to beat. We never get a lucky break. This time, another big challenge awaits us,” said Boon Heong.

“We may have to meet Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong. We have lost to them four times. They are sharp in their attacks. We also found it difficult to break their solid control at the front court.

“Koo and I will analyse more about their game in the next few days. We will find ways to get the better of them this time.”

However, Boon Heong said that the Koreans were not unbeatable.

“We faced Yong-dae-Jae-sung in the quarter-finals at last year’s world meet. We had not beaten them for two years before the world meet in Paris but, fortunately, we combined well to pull the rug from under them last year. We are determined to do the same,” said Boon Heong.

“While concentrating on the Koreans, we will not forget the challenge from the others. We will be alert from the first round onwards. We hope to do well.”

Last year, Kien Keat-Boon Heong made it to their first-ever final but ran out of steam against Cai Yun-Haifeng.

They crashed out in the third round in their debut at the Kuala Lumpur series in 2007 and made it to the semi-finals at the 2009 edition in India.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 11:52 AM. Filed under Top News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0