Koo-Tan may be the only Malaysian pair at World Championships
Latest News 9:10 PM
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong may be the
only elite pair to represent Malaysia in the World Championships this
year following the poor showing by two other senior combinations in the
ongoing German Open at Mulheim.
Yesterday, Kien Keat-Boon Heong
stormed into the semi-finals of the German Open with a convincing 21-16,
21-14 win over Russians Vitalij Durkin-Alexandr Nikolaenko.
They
will take on the winner of the match between Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung
of South Korea and Japan’s Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato in the last four.
On
Thursday, world No. 5 Kien Keat-Boon Heong saved the blushes for
Malaysia when they checked into the quarter-finals with a sensational
21-17, 21-13 win over China’s Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan in the second
round.
Durkin-Nikolaenko had earlier tamed former internationals Gan Teik Chai-Tan Bin Shen 23-25, 21-16, 21-12.
It
was also all over for two other Malaysian elite pairs – Mohd
Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Ong Soon Hock and Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon
Thien How.
Fairuzizuan-Soon Hock went down 14-21, 18-21 to South Koreans Kim Ki-jung-Kim Sang-ra in the second round on Thursday.
The
Zakry-Thien How partnership suffered a shocking 14-21, 11-21 loss to
Denmark’s Rasmus Bonde-Anders Kristiansen in the opening round a day
earlier.
With their early exits, both Fairuzizuan-Soon Hock
(world No. 42) and Zakry-Thien How (world No. 51) have failed to rake in
some useful world ranking points.
Now, these two pairs will have
to break into the top-24 bracket by April if they hope to qualify for
the World Championships in London in August.
Meanwhile, Wong Mew
Choo stayed alive when she defeated Bae Seung-hee of South Korea 21-19,
13-21, 21-10 to set up a quarter-finals clash against Russian Anastasia
Prokopenko.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 9:10 PM.
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