Joo-bong says Koo-Tan not mentally strong to win

Posted by Lucas Liau Latest News, Lee Yong Dae, Top News 10:20 AM

DOUBLES legend Park Joo-bong has a few favourites in his mind for the men’s doubles title but he does not rate highly the Malaysian chances of winning through Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong.
Joo-bong said that Kien Keat-Boon Heong were quite inconsistent.
“It is not enough to put up strong performances in one or two early round matches. They have to maintain a high quality of play throughout a competition. We do not see this too often in the Malaysians,” he said.
“And they must not be too worried of their other opponents. Their focus should be on themselves. If they are mentally strong, they can go far.”

Joo-bong’s favourites for the title are South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung, Chinese Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Indonesians Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan.
“I have chosen all the regular faces because I do not see newcomers coming through this time,” he said.
The former world champion in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, who currently coaches the Japan team, said that Yong-dae was not in the best of form.
“Yong-dae-Jae-sung lost to Japan’s pair (Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa) in the first round of the Macau Open. They won in Taiwan but Yong-dae did not play his best game. I suspect that he has not fully recovered from injury,” said Joo-bong.
Yong-dae was out of tournaments for four months due to the injury before making a return to competition recently.
“But Koreans are a very motivated lot. A world champion gets US$600 monthly as pension for life and they are driven by this,” said Joo-bong.
“Yong-dae-Jae-sung have finished as the runners-up twice in the world championships and I am sure that they will be fired up to win this one badly.”
Barring any upsets, Kien Keat-Boon Heong will take on Yong-dae-Jae-sung in the quarter-finals.
Joo-bong felt that a semi-final clash in the other half of the draw should be between defending champions Cai Yun-Haifeng and former champions Markis-Hendra.
“Cai Yun-Haifeng are a dangerous pair and I reckon that they should reach at least the semi-finals. They may not have competed in many international tournaments but they have been exposed to quality matches in China’s league,” he said.
“Markis-Hendra faced some problems at home but they are experienced enough to handle the situation.”
The pair threatened to pull out from the tournament but changed their mind after All-Indonesia Badminton Association (PBSI) entertained their request to compete in the China Masters.
As far as the other challengers are concerned, Joo-bong identified only one pair as dark horses – Taiwan’s Fang Chieh-min-Lee Sheng-mu, who made heads turn this year by winning the Singapore and Indonesia Open titles.