Our doubles pairs go down fighting in semi-finals

THERE were sheer dejection on the faces of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif as they walked off the courts yesterday.

Both pairs had given a fight of their lives but it was not good enough to create history for Malaysia in the World Championships at Gachibowli Stadium here yesterday.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong were beaten 21-16, 14-21, 20-22 by South Korean Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung in one of the most thrilling match of the day while Fairuziuan-Zakry went down fighting at 21-18, 22-24, 15-21 to former world champions Cai Yun-Hai Feng of China in another nail-biting semi-final match yesterday.

With their defeats yesterday, Malaysia’s challenge in the World Championships came to an end and the country, proud of their badminton tradition, will have to wait for another year to nail the elusive world crown.

Lanky Tan Boon Heong was a shattered man after the painful loss.

“We gave our best out there today. It is really frustrating to lose out at deuce. It was so nerve-wracking but we tried to remain calm,” said Boon Heong. “It was all about who had more confidence and luck during the match. Maybe, I was not as stable as I should have been.

“We were just unable to kill the shuttle. We were just not as fortunate as them. Koo and I were really determined from the start to get a good result for the country,” he lamented.

Second seeds Kien Keat-Boon Heong were in devastating form to take the first game and the Koreans replied with another show-stealer in the second game.

The third game was action-packed when Kien Keat-Boon Heong raced to a 10-6 lead. Then, the Koreans powered their way back into the game and it was from this stage that both pairs played their hearts out to outfox each other.

At 18-18, it was all about the service and service returns and eventually, it was the Malaysians, who failed to come good at the end.

“I sent a high flick service and it caught Yong-dae by surprise. But after that, he served one and I did not get it right. They got the confidence to romp home for the win.”

Fairuzizuan-Zakry also had Cai Yun-Haifeng on the backfoot and should have wrapped up the match in straight games but they just failed to finish them off.

“I feel so frustrated. We had them in our hands today. We played the right tactics and they could not match our game. We did not lift the shuttle high for them and they struggled,” said Fairuzizuan.

“We should have won the second game. We caught up from 13-16 to take a 17-16 lead. It was really tight after that,” he said.

The Chinese reached game point first but the Malaysians turned on the pressure to level the score at 20-all. It was a neck-and-neck fight but the Chinese managed to force the rubber.

Said Zakry: “It is such a waste when we could not kill them off. We tried to hold them but we made mistakes and that gave them the confidence.

“We let slip a golden opportunity to reach the final and I feel so disappointed about the way we lost,” he added.

In the decider, Zakry-Fairuzizuan were slow to get into rhythm and Cai Yun-Haifeng hung on for a place in the final and a shot at winning their second world title.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 12:21 PM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0