Badminton: Doubles flop won’t lead to major shake-up
News 9:39 AM
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s doubles challenge may have ended prematurely in the Japan Open yesterday but it will not lead to a major shake-up in the elite squad.
Yesterday, Malaysian No. 2 Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari went down 23-25, 21-16, 10-21 to Indonesians Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan in a 48-minute quarter-final battle.
The Malaysians’ first loss to the youngsters in five meetings showed that the Indonesians had caught up with Zakry-Fairuzizuan and may pose a problem at next year’s Thomas Cup Finals.
Yonathan-Rian are the third ranked pair in the Indonesian national team after Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and Bona Septano-Mohd Ahsan.
Second seeds Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong had crashed out in the opening round.
Malaysia’s challenge in the women’s doubles also ended yesterday when Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty lost 19-21, 12-21 to China’s Ma Jin-Wang Xiaoli.
National coach Rosman Razak was disappointed with the men’s doubles ‘wipeout’ in the Japan Open.
He, however, felt there was no need to press the panic button – just yet.
“We expected our shuttlers to go far but they crashed out earlier. Zakry and Fairuzizuan had even beaten the Indonesian pair at the World Championships and we were hoping for a repeat performance,” said Rosman.
“Chief coach Rexy (Mainaky) was there (in Tokyo) to assess the players’ performances. He will know what went wrong and we will review their game plan.”
Rosman said the elite players would continue to compete in Open tournaments to improve on their consistency.
“The result is disappointing but we still have confidence in our players. I am not protecting them but the standard of the men’s doubles is so close nowadays,” said Rosman.
“In the past, four or five pairs used to dominate the world of badminton.
“Now, it is quite open.
“But we want to look into this positively and work on the small errors in the partnerships of our elite pairs. We will continue to send them for tournaments and hope they will bounce back.”
Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Fairuzizuan-Zakry are the top two seeds in the Terengganu Open, which will begin on Thursday.
Eei Hui-Pei Tty will also be out to live up to their top billing in the second-leg of the National Circuit in Terengganu.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 9:39 AM.
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