Koo and Tan ignore hostile crowd to beat Chinese pair

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong overcame boos and jeers to reach the Indonesian Open men’s doubles quarter-finals with a hard-fought win over China’s Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen in Jakarta yesterday.

They were one of three Malaysian pairs to clear the second round of the doubles events together with Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif and the women’s combination of Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty.

The third seeded Kien Keat-Boon Heong nearly blew it against the Chinese second ranked pair but remained steady in the crucial stages to pull through.

They came close to squandering a healthy at 17-12 in the rubber before prevailing with a 16-21, 21-14. 22-20 win. They will take on Indonesians Luluk Hadiyanto-Joko Riyadi today for a place in the semi-finals.

National coach Rosman Razak said that he was glad that the Malaysians pulled through despite adversities.

“The atmosphere here is really against Malaysia. No matter who are our opponents, we are booed and jeered,” said Rosman in a telephone interview.

“On top of that, the players also have to overcome the windy conditions in the stadium. I was glad that Koo and Tan hung in there. It was their toughest match thus far. I am confident that they will play better after this.”

Defending champions Fairuzizuan-Zakry, who are playing for the first time together in three months, showed their determination to win in a 21-16, 21-13 demolition of compatriots Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng in 29 minutes.

However, they have a challenging task in the quarter-finals against All-England champions Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung of South Korea.

The Malaysians have never beaten the Koreans and a win today will certainly give them a timely boost ahead of the World Championships, which will be held in Hyderabad from Aug 10-16.

“Fairuzizuan-Zakry are playing well together. We hope that they will keep their momentum going and go all out for a breakthrough here,” said Rosman.

World number one Eei Hui-Pei Tty also made it to the last eight with a 21-9, 19-21, 21-15 win over India’s Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnapa to set up a meeting with Lee Hyo-jung-Lee Kyung-won of South Korea, whom they have never beaten before.

It was the end of the road for Malaysia in the mixed doubles. Kien Keat-Ng Hui Lin and Mohd Razif Abdul Latif-Woon Khe Wei crashed out in straight games against seeded opponents in the second round.

After a fiery start, Kien Keat-Hui Lin ran out of steam and went down 16-21, 17-21 to Olympic champions and second seeds Yong-dae-Lee Hyo-jung while back-up pair Razif-Khe Wei lost 13-21, 19-21 to fourth seeds Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:04 AM. Filed under Koo Kien Keat, News, Tan Boon Heong . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0