Tan Fook-Wan Wah survive stiff test

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THE veteran men’s pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah survived a stiff opening test yesterday. And Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong joined them in the quarter-finals.

While second seeds Kien Keat-Boon Heong were expected to win their third round match, they also had to put in some hard work to beat Poland’s Michal Logosz-Robert Mateusiak 21-17, 21-19.

Tan Fook-Wan Wah did not have it easy to keep alive a strong interest for Malaysia in the men’s doubles competition. They had to overcome frayed nerves and tauntings from crafty Simon Mollyhus-Anders Kristiansen of Denmark before prevailing 21-11, 15-21, 21-16 in 55 minutes.

Wan Wah was the better player yesterday, often covering for his partner and he was glad they managed to turn the tables on the Danes, who beat them in the first round of the Malaysian Open in January.

It was also the first match for the Malaysians, who received a first-round bye and a walkover from Belgium’s Frederic Mawet-Wouter Claes.

“It’s good to be done with this. It was quite nervous at the start. We were also having problems in the second game when we switched court and the draught was quite bad,” said Wan Wah.

After having seen Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif and Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock fall by the wayside the previous day, coach Rexy Mainaky broke into smiles.

“Honestly, I felt tense watching them play against the Danes. It was not easy and they had quite tricky services. I’m just happy Tan Fook-Wan Wah pass the test,” said Rexy.

Tan Fook-Wan Wah now have their confidence going but it will not be easy for them in the quarter-finals today against defending champions and top seeds Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun.  

The Chinese advanced with an easy 21-10, 21-9 win over Russians Vitalij Durkin-Alexandr Nikolaenko.

“We lost to them narrowly in the Singapore Open final this year. It’s going to take a different strategy against the Chinese pair this time … we want to beat them,” said Wan Wah.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong will be up against Japan’s Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda for a place in the semi-finals.  

The Japanese pair, trained by former Malaysian doubles coach Park Joo-bong, defeated eighth seeds Luluk Hadiyanto-Alvent Yulianto of Indonesia 21-19, 22-24, 21-15.

 

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