Saturday, 15 August 2009
IT was a glorious day for Malaysia when Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif powered into the men’s doubles semi-finals of the World Championships at the Gachibowli Stadium yesterday.
Second seeds Kien Keat-Boon Heong survived a nail-biting decider to beat 2005 world champions Tony Gunawan-Howard Bach of United States 22-20, 13-21, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.
Fairuzizuan-Zakry didn’t have it easy either, being forced to claw back from an opening game disaster to beat South Koreans Cho Gun-woo-Yoo Yeon-seong 17-21, 21-12, 21-14 to reach their first semi-finals in an international tournament this year.
By reaching the semi-finals, the pairs have assured Malaysia of at least a bronze medal.
Leap of joy: Tan Boon Heong celebrating as Koo Kien Keat looks on after their men’s doubles quarter-final win over Americans Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan o Friday.
Today, Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Fairuzizuan-Zakry have a chance to make it an all-Malaysian final for the first time when they take on the formidable combinations of South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung and China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng respectively.
The last time Malaysia had two men’s doubles in the semi-finals was at the 2001 world meet in Seville. Then, Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng failed to make it to the final.
Yesterday, however, Kien Keat-Boon Heong were staring at defeat before they came alive in the final stages of the decider.
“We played a better attacking game in the first game and had the confidence to go for the kill. But we slowed down a little and they took that opportunity to turn the game around,” said Kien Keat.
After a convincing first game win, the Malaysians were bombarded with leaping smashes by the stocky Bach and Tony. That rattled the Malaysians, forcing them to concede a rubber game.
The Americans continued to pound the Malaysians to take a 10-6 lead. Then, the fightback started.
It was tense as the lead changed hands until 17-17. That’s when, with an eye on Howard as their target, the Malaysians picked up four quick points to romp home.
A delighted Kien Keat said their never-say-die attitude saw them through into the last four.
“Our attacking game was good but we were surprised with a similiar approach by the Americans. Howard can jump really high while Tony is a master tactician,” said Kien Keat.
“We took a gamble and our net shots worked wonders. The situation was tense but we just did not want to give up.”
Boon Heong, however, is not satisfied. “This is not the best from us. I will not be satisfied with a semi-final appearance. We have a 50-50 chance tomorrow and we promise to give our best,” he said.
As for Fairuzizuan and Zakry, it was a day of breakthrough.
Said Zakry: “We are so happy today. Both of us had some problems on the court before coming into the tournament but we proved today that everything is behind us.”
“We really played well today. After so many quarter-final finishes this year, we’ve finally made it to our first semi-finals. This is the breakthrough we wanted.”
Said Fairuzizuan: “This has been an amazing outing for us so far. Everything is working out well for us.
“It will be tough against Cai Yun-Haifeng but we hope to play even better than today.”
The pair have beaten Cai Yun-Haifeng once in three outings – in the second round of the China Open in 2007.
Men’s singles: Chen Jin (Chn) bt Simon Santoso (Ina) 21-10, 21-13; Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 21-16, 14-21, 21-12; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Peter-Gade Christensen (Den) 22-20, 21-16; Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 21-19, 21-19.
Men’s doubles: Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (Chn) bt Han Sang-hoon-Shin Baek-cheol (Kor) 21-16, 21-18; Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) bt Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan (US) 22-20, 13-21, 21-17; Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari (Mas) bt Cho Gun-woo-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) 17-21, 21-12, 21-14; Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung (Kor) bt Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen (Chn) 21-17, 28-26.
Women’s singles: Pi Hongyan (Ger) bt Juliane Schenk (Ger) 15-21, 21-15, 21-19; Xie Xingfang (Chn) bt Zhou Mi (Hkg) 21-15, 21-18; Lu Lan (Chn) bt Tine Rasmussen (Den) 21-15, 21-13; Wang Lin (Chn) bt Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-16, 21-19.
Women’s doubles: Ma Jin-Wang Xioali (Chn) bt Lee Hyo-jung-Lee Kyung-won (Kor) 21-18, 21-13; Zhang Yawen-Zhao Tingting (Chn) bt Ha Jung-eun-Kim Min-jung (Kor) 21-9, 21-10; Cheng Shu-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt Cheng Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin (Tpe) 11-21, 21-11, 21-8; Du Jing-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) 21-17, 21-8.
Mixed doubles: Lee Yong-dae-Lee Hyo-jung (Kor) bt Xie Zhongbo-Zhang Yawen (Chn) 21-16, 21-16; Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) bt Zheng Bo-Ma Jin (Chn) 22-20, 11-21, 22-20; Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt He Hanbin-Shen Ye (Chn) 21-10, 21-17; Nova Widianto-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt V. Diju-Jwala Gutta (Ind) 21-16,
Courtesy of The Star
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