Kien Keat-Boon Heong earn praises from Rexy for their fighting displays

KUALA LUMPUR: Doubles shuttlers Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong have broken the jinx as a pair in team events as far as chief coach Rexy Mainaky is concerned.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong failed to keep a clean slate in the Sudirman Cup world mixed team championships in Guangzhou when they went down fighting to Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng in the semi-final tie against China on Saturday. With their defeat, Malaysia went down 0-3 to the formidable Chinese.

China had nailed the first two points through He Hanbin-Yu Yang, who defeated Mohd Fairuizizuan Mohd Tazari-Wong Pei Tty in the mixed doubles, and Lin Dan, who beat Lee Chong Wei in the men’s singles.

Despite the failure of Kien Keat-Boon Heong to save the tie, Rexy gave thumbs up to the duo for their fighting display.

“By far, this is Koo-Tan’s best performance in a major team event. They showed positive vibes throughout the match and I am satisfied with that,” said Rexy in a telephone interview from Guangzhou.

Rexy pointed out that the duo had failed to make a mark during the team event at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, 2007 Sudirman Cup in Glasgow and the 2008 Thomas Cup Finals in Jakarta.

“They did well in the 2006 Asiad by winning the individual gold medal. But they played poorly in the earlier team event,” he said.

“They also fared poorly in two other major team events, the previous Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup Finals. Their defeats led to some to believe that they are not team players.

“But in Guangzhou, the duo showed great team spirit. They lost but not after giving their all. Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng were more experienced and took advantage of the home support.”

Rexy added that he would send Kien Keat-Boon Heong to as many tournaments as possible to get them well prepared for the World Championships in Hyderabad from Aug 10-16.

“Currently, Kien Keat-Boon Heong do not have good and quality sparring at home. They are one class above the other pairs in the country,” he said.

“I had hoped for Fairuzizuan and Mohd Zakry (Abdul Latif) to challenge them but this pair have yet to meet my expectations. They did well in the beginning but have lost focus along the way.”

Kien Keat-Boon Heong have four tournaments lined up for them — the Pahang Open (Kuantan, May 26-29), Singapore Open (June 9-14), Indonesian Open (June 16-21) and Malaysian Gold Grand Prix (Johor Baru, June 23-28).

On the overall performances of the team in Sudirman Cup, Rexy said: “I have been with the team for some time now but I sensed some difference this time. All the players stuck together like a family,” he said.

“I hope that they will maintain this feeling of oneness in the team until the next major team event, the Thomas Cup Finals (next year).”

Posted by Lucas Liau on 1:34 PM. Filed under Koo Kien Keat, News, Rexy, Tan Boon Heong . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0