Fairuzizuan-Zakry eyeing strong finish to earn spot in Masters Finals

KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles men shuttler Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari is eyeing for a strong finish this year to keep alive his hopes of playing in the Super Series Masters Finals.

And that means, Fairuzizuan and his partner Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif will have to win one of the last four legs of the Super Series this year.

They will feature in all the four remaining legs of the 12-leg series at Denmark (Oct 20-25), France (Oct 27-Nov 1), Hong Kong (Nov 10-15) and China (Nov 17-22).

In the latest Super Series ranking list released by the World Badminton Federation (BWF), Fairuzizuan-Zakry are on the 16th spot .

There are three other Malaysian pairs ahead of them with Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong placed at the third spot followed by former internationals Tan Bin Shen-Gan Teik Chai (14th) and Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (15th).

Only the top eight after the completion of the 12-leg Tour get to feature in the Masters Finals, which will be held from Dec 2-6 at a venue yet to be named.

Fairuzizuan said that they did not want to dig their own grave by crashing out early in all the four upcoming Super Series.

“We may have not started well this year but we certainly hoping for a good finish,” said Fairuzizuan, who did well to reach the semi-finals of the World Championships in India in August.

“Our goal is to make the cut for the Masters Finals although we are trailing behind for the time being. We can certainly get ourselves in the top eight if we nail one of the Super Series title.

Fairuzizuan is hoping to stay injury free in his bid to do well in the last four legs.

“I am currently doing light training after picking up an injury on my left leg. But it is nothing to worry about and I should be back on my feet soon,” said Fairuzizuan.

“It is important to be in tip top condition to mount a strong challenge and Zakry and I will be more than ready for the tasks ahead,” he added.

Meanwhile, Malaysia can look forward to having the smallest number of qualifiers for the Masters Finals.

The others assured of their spots are world number one men singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei and Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty, who are fourth in the women’s doubles ranking list.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 10:54 AM. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0