Doubles pairs to know if they are good enough for quarters

Thursday, 13 August 2009

HOTSHOTS Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong say that their real tests in the world championships begin today while Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif feel that they have regained their touch after winning their opening round matches.

The action in second-round matches in the men’s doubles competition yesterday also saw the exit of third seeds Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark.

For Kien Keat-Boon Heong, they were hardly tested against Nigerians Ola Fagbemi-Jinkan Ifraimu, romping to an 21-5, 21-16 win in just 17 minutes.

The easy win was a blessing in disguise for Kien Keat, who had twisted his ankle during training.

“It is just a slight twist but I am being very careful about it. I do not want this minor problem to affect my game tomorrow,” he said.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong will play against Japanese Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato today for a place in the quarter-finals. The Japanese had eliminated former Malaysian No. 1 Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng in the opening round on Monday.

“We have not played against them and we will not take them lightly. Our match will get tougher from here and we will be ready,” said Kien Keat.

Zakry-Fairuzizuan, who had been having problems to complement each other on the court, got their acts right yesterday when they defeated Yoshiteru Hirobe-Hajime Komiyama of Japan 21-14, 23-21.

But they courted letting each other down in the second game while trailing 15-19 but quick communication saw them covering for each other well to escape with a narrow win.

And for Zakry, it has given them a huge dose of confidence to take on Indonesians Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan for a place in the quarter-finals.

“There was a stage in the second game that I lost focus. Fortunately, I regained the rhythm. But this is my weakness and I cannot afford to do this tomorrow,” said Zakry.

“This win is important as it had given Fairuzizuan and I some confidence after going through tough times. We hope to play even better tomorrow.”

On the match against Yonathan-Dasuki, Fairuzizuan said: “We have won all three previous matches against them but we will not be over confident. We know a lot is stake on our performance here and we will give our best.”

The big upset in the event yesterday was the elimination of former champions Paake-Rasmussen, who were beaten 19-21, 21-15, 17-21 by South Koreans Han Sang-hoon-Shin Baek-cheol.

Courtesy of The Star