KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia unleashed their secret weapon by fielding Koo Kien Keat-Wong Pei Tty in the mixed doubles event but it was still not good enough to turn the tables on fancied South Korea on the opening day of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament in Guangzhou yesterday.

Malaysia went down fighting losing 2-3 to South Korea in their first Group A tie in Division One.

Kien Keat-Pei Tty, the bronze medallist at the 2006 World Championships in Madrid, almost gave a crucial first point for the country when they made Beijing Olympic Games gold medallist Lee Yong-dae-Lee Hyo-jung sweat before going down 22-24, 23-21, 15-21.
Just too good: Chong Wei (left) shaking hands with Soo-jang after their men’s singles match at the Sudirman Cup in Guangzhou yesterday. Chong Wei won 21-9, 21-13. — AFP

National doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky had opted for seasoned campaigner Pei Tty rather than youngster Ng Hui Lin in a bid to steal a point in the tie.

Malaysia also lost two other points in the doubles through both Kien Keat and Pei Tty, who failed to come good in the men’s and women’s events with their partners Tan Boon Heong and Chin Eei Hui respectively.

In a most awaited match of the day, Kien Keat-Boon Heong went down in a straight game defeat at 16-21, 16-21 to Malaysian Open champions Yong-dae-Jae-sung.

Despite a three-month break, Jae-sung, who is back after fulfilling his obligations in the National Service, showed he had not lost his touch at all.

Pei Tty-Eei Hui’s losing streak against Lee Kyung-won-Hyo-jung continued when they went down tamely at 8-21, 15-21.

Malaysia’s top two singles players Lee Chong Wei and Wong Mew Choo had won their respective matches but it was the latter, who stole the show.

Mew Choo, who is playing in her first international tournament this year, showed great fighting spirit to beat Hwang Hye-youn 21-10, 17-21, 21-17.

National doubles chief coach Rexy said that they had fielded their strongest line-up in a bid to take down the Koreans.

“I had to bring back Koo and Pei together in the mixed doubles to add more depth to the team. Koreans are known for the prowess in the doubles and we had to field our best,” said Rexy in a telephone interview yesterday.

“And Koo-Pei Tty almost pulled it off for us. Things could have been different if they had won the first game when they were leading 20-19.”

But he was disappointed that Koo and Pei Tty were unable to make a similar impact in the men and women doubles matches.

“Koo is still struggling to cope with playing in two events. It is not that he was tired but his movement was slower in the men’s doubles.

“This could be because he went all out in the mixed doubles. This has to be further improved,” said Rexy.

“Our women doubles did not play true to form. Eei Hui lacked the fire. I just hope that Eei Hui had showed the same fighting spirit as Mew Choo today.

Rexy said that Malaysia had to go for broke in their remaining two ties against Hong Kong (today) and Denmark (Thursday).

“A defeat today has left us without much choice. We have to win the remaining two ties. I still believe we have a chance if our players can rise to the occasion.”

Meanwhile, Pei Tty was disappointed after losing the mixed doubles.

“It was so close in the mixed doubles. The coach had warned me earlier that I may play with Koo and I was ready for it. It was a waste to lose,” said Pei Tty.

“I know the hope was high on Eei Hui and I in the doubles. Then, Malaysia were tied at 2-2. But we let the team and supporters down. We are sorry. We will fight back and try to make the semi-finals by doing well in the next two ties,” she added.

KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles pair Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui have a tall order ahead of them.

The duo are hoping to go into the history books as the first Malaysian women’s pair to be top seeded for the World Championships in Hyderabad, India, from Aug 10-16.

But for that to happen, they must still be ranked No. 1 in the world when the tournament comes along.

And the only way for them to safeguard their world No. 1 status is by doing well in the Sudirman Cup in Guangzhou (May 10-16) and Singapore Open (June 9-14).

Pei Tty admitted that it would be tough for them to hang on to the world No. 1 spot.

“It doesn’t matter whether we are ranked first or not at the world meet. But the fact remains that we may lose the status if we do not do well in the two coming tournaments,” said Pei Tty.

“There are several pairs just waiting to take over the number one spot from us.”

There are four pairs challenging for the top spot.

They are China’s Cheng Shu-Zhao Yunlei, Taiwan’s Cheng Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin, South Koreans Lee Hyo-jung-Lee Kyung-won and China’s Du Jing-Yu Yang.

Pei Tty’s partner Eei Hui, who is making a comeback after taking a one-month break to recover from a back injury, is racing against time to be fit for the Sudirman Cup.

The women shuttlers have a crucial role to play in Malaysia’s bid to justify their fourth seeding in the world mixed team event.

The Malaysian team have never finished better than sixth in Division One of the tournament.

But, for now, Pei Tty is only interested in seeing Eei Hui get back to top form.

“Eei Hui did well in training today and that is a good sign. We will have a better chance if both of us can play as a pair in the Sudirman Cup,” said Pei Tty.

There are three back-up shuttlers - Vivian Hoo, Woon Khe Wei and Ng Hui Lin - waiting in the wings to be paired up with Pei Tty should Eei Hui fail to get the nod.

Besides Eei Hui-Pei Tty, the others confirmed for the Sudirman Cup are Wong Mew Choo, Hui Lin and three men’s players – Lee Chong Wei, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong.

The coaches will name several others before the team leave for Guangzhou next week.

PETALING JAYA: The failure to get past the early rounds in their outings in Europe will cost Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty the number one position on the world women’s doubles ranking list.

Eei Hui-Pei Tty, who conceded a walkover to South Korea’s Ha Jung-eun-Kim Min-jung in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open in Basel on Friday, will drop to second place behind Taiwan’s Chen Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin in the new ranking list to be released next week.

Wen-hsing-Yu-chin defeated Danes Lena Frier Kristiansen-Kamilla Rytter Juhl 21-16, 21-16 in the quarter-finals. The Taiwanese would have enough ranking points to knock Eei Hui-Pei Tty from the top spot even if they lost to Olympic champions Du jing-Yu Yang of China in the semi-finals yesterday.

Eei-Hui-Pei Tty, who won the Super Series Masters Finals last December, were eliminated in the second round of the All-England in Birmingham last week, losing in straight games to the Chinese fifth ranked pair of Pan Pan-Qing Tian.

National singles chief coach Rashid Sidek, who is taking charge of the doubles players as well in the Swiss Open in the absence of Rexy Mainaky, said that Eei Hui complained of pain in her back and they decided in not risking her to aggravating the injury.

“She already had the injury in the All-England but felt okay enough to play in the Swiss Open,” said Rashid in a telephone interview from Basel yesterday.

“But she complained of pain again and we thought it was better for her not to continue because she would certainly be stretched by the Korean pair. It was unfortunate. I felt that they had a good chance to reach the semi-finals. “But the good thing is Eei Hui has plenty of time to make full recovery. She does not have any tournaments until probably May.”

Eei Hui-Pei Tty are not taking part in the Indian Open at the end of the month and the Asian Championships in South Korea from April 7-12. But they are expected to be in the Malaysian side for the Sudirman Cup (world mixed team championships) in Guangzhou from May 10-17.

From Friday’s quarter-final action, Malaysian interest in the Swiss Open was kept alive in two events with top seed Lee Chong Wei joining the doubles pair of Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong in reaching the semi-finals.

Chong Wei had to did deep into his reserves to beat former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 21-23, 21-12, 21-19 in 66 minutes.

It was in contrast to the semi-final match at the All-England in which Chong Wei scored an easy win over Taufik and went on to finish as the runner-up to China’s Lin Dan.

The other Malaysian in action in the men’s singles quarter-finals, Sairul Amar Ayob, failed to secure a first-ever Super Series semi-final appearance, losing 18-21, 16-21 to Dane Jan O Jorgensen.

QUARTER-FINALS

Men’s singles: Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 21-23, 21-12, 21-19; Chen Jin (Chn) bt Andrew Smith (Eng) 21-10, 21-5.

Men’s doubles: Lee Yong-dae-Shin Baek-choel (Kor) bt Kenichi Hayakawa-Kenta Kazuno (Jpn) 23-21, 21-15; Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun (Chn) bt Chris Adcock-Robert Blair (Eng) 21-10, 21-11.

Women’s singles: Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) bt Salakjit Ponsana (Tha) 21-16, 21-13; Lu Lan (Chn) bt Saina Nehwal 18-21, 21-8, 21-17; Wang Yihan (Chn) bt Zhou Mi (Hkg) 21-11, 23-21; Pi Hongyan (Fra) bt Juliane Schenk (Ger) 21-18, 21-13.

Women’s doubles: Du Jing-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Zhang Yawen-Zhao Tingting (Chn) 26-24, 21-16; Chen Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin (Tpe) bt Lena Frier Kristiansen-Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) 21-16, 21-16; Lee Hyo-jung-Lee Kyung-won (Kor) bt Shendy Puspa Irawati-Meiliana Jauhari (Ina) 21-7, 21-14.

Mixed doubles: Zheng Bo-Ma Jin (Chn) bt Nova Widianto-Liliyana Natsir (Ina) 21-13, 21-12; Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam (Tha) bt He Hanbin-Yu Yang (Chn) 21-11, 21-19; Chen Xu-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt Xie Zhongbo-Zhang Yawen (Chn) 21-16, 11-21, 21-13.

■ SEMI-FINALS

Men’s singles: Lin Dan (Chn) bt Chen Jin (Chn) 21-13, 21-14.

Women’s singles: Wang Yihan (Chn) bt Lu Lan (Chn) 22-20, 19-21, 21-16.

Mixed doubles: Zheng Bo-Ma Jin (Chn) bt Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thoungthongkam (Tha) 21-14, 21-19; Lee Yong-dae-Lee Hyo-jung (Kor) bt Chen Xu-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) 21-18, 21-17.

IT is rare to see the women’s doubles shuttlers Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty show their emotions on the court but yesterday, they jumped for joy and hugged each other after nailing their biggest career title.

The duo lived up to their top billing to take the Super Series Masters Finals women’s doubles title with a hard-fought 21-15, 22-20 victory over Indonesians Lilyana Natsir-Vita Marissa at the Likas Indoor Stadium in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

It could have been an easy task for Eei Hui-Pei Tty to pick up the winners’ purse of US$42,000. But they made life difficult for themselves and trailed 14-19 in the second game.

But known for their tremendous fighting spirit and true grit, the world No. 2 pair showed nerves of steel to make a remarkable comeback to seal victory.

With the win yesterday, Eei Hui-Pei Tty capped their most successful year of their badminton careers. They had won the Danish Open and emerged as the runners-up in the French Open, China Open and reached the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open.

Pei Tty was happy that they succeeded in capitalising on the absence of the China pairs.

“It could have been different in the presence of the Chinese pairs. But in their absence, we knew the fight for the title was open and we stood a very good chance of winning it. We are glad that we took our chances well,” she said.

Pei Tty added that past, they would have panicked and cracked if they trailed in the crucial stages of a match.

“But not now. We have grown to be more steady in the crucial stages. We keep our emotions in check and we do not get rattled easily,” she said.

Pei Tty added that they had bridged the gap with the top pairs from China and South Korea.

“We know where we stand even though we won a major title today. We certainly have narrowed the gap but more work needs to be done to beat the top Chinese pairs consistently,” she said.

Although happy, Eei Hui said that she needed to improve on her physical condition if they are to keep up with the strong pairs in the world next season.

Eei Hui had lacked training as she had spent some time taking a break and going for rehabilitation on ankle and knee injuries.

“It has been a great year for us. But I know that I will have to work on my physical condition. I have to be fitter to complement Pei Tty better,” she said.