Rexy hopes Koo-Tan will set up repeat final with Chinese pair

KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles coach Rexy Mainaky is hoping that Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong will reach the final of the men’s doubles event at the World Championships in London (Aug 8-14) and have a rematch against the world number one Chinese pair of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.

Although the Malaysian pair did not win any Grand Prix or Super Series tournaments of late, Rexy said the world No. 4 pair managed to reach the final of a big tournament, namely the All England Championships in March.

“The situation is the same like last year. They never won anything during the GP and Super Series, but they did well during the World Championship. It’s like they have been gearing up for this,” said Rexy yesterday.

The Malaysian No. 1 pair reached the World Championships final last year but lost to Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng 21-18, 18-21, 14-21.

Rexy, who is optimistic of the pair’s performance, said the team were better prepared this year with the training session in Bath, London, almost two weeks prior to the championship.

“However, we are not going to be over-confident about it (reaching the final). Me as the coach, not just Koo and Tan, have learnt from the past that it is better to keep a low profile,” he said.

Koo and Tan, who got a bye in the first round, are expected to meet Chinese pair Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan in the second round.

“They have never met this pair before and they have to be careful with them. This pair might have been taught by their friends on how to face them,” he said on the draw.

Seeded pairs in Kien Keat and Boon Heong’s group include Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark, Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong of South Korea, Mohamad Ahsan-Bona Septano of Indonesia and Chai Biao-Guo Zhendong of China.

Kien Keat and Boon Heong had in the past beaten all these pairs, except the Korean pair of Sung-hyun and Yeon-seong who they will likely meet in the quarter-final.

“It will be a tough quarter-final for them but I’m sure they can beat the Koreans this time,” said Rexy. — Bernama

Posted by Lucas Liau on 11:51 AM. Filed under Latest News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0