JOHOR BARU: The India Open setback is a grim reminder for doubles shuttlers Tan Boon Heong-Koo Kien Keat of the urgent need to regain their self-confidence ahead of the London Olympic Games.
Last week, they lost to Indonesia’s fourth pair Angga Pratama-Ryan Agung Saputra in the quarter-finals of the Super Series event in New Delhi.
It was their second defeat to the same pair after the Axiata Cup.
Boon Heong took the blame for the defeat in India, saying that he got all jittery towards the end.
“The Indonesians won the opening game and I was screaming and shouting to lift my spirit and we won the second. In the decider, I didn’t serve confidently at the crucial part,” said Boon Heong.
“The fear of losing was overwhelming and I couldn’t focus. This isn’t new as I have been through the same situation before,” he admitted.
Fortunately, Boon Heong has found a way to overcome it.
“It all goes back to training. I have been told to treat every back-up pair as though they are my number one enemy. Hopefully, I will be able to be as confident as I was before,” he said.
Kien Keat said there was still hope to restore their partnership to full effectiveness before the Olympics.
Yesterday, the duo got off to a blistering start in the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold at Bandaraya Stadium when they took only 13 minutes to tear apart India’s S. Sanjeeth-Jagadish Yadav 21-7, 21-5 to set-up a meeting against Singapore’s Terry Ye Zhao Jiang-Liu Yi.
Shen Low Juan-Tan Yip Jiun — the newly-promoted pair from Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) — dumped fourth seeds Yoshiteru Hirobe-Kenta Kazuno of Japan 21-16, 17-21, 21-19 but the more experienced Mak Hee Chun-Teo Kok Siang fell 18-21, 22-20, 13-21 to Indonesia’s Gideon Markus Fernaldi-Agripinna Prima Rahmanto Putra.
In the women’s singles, only Olympic-bound Tee Jing Yi survived the day while Lydia Cheah, Sonia Cheah, Yang Li Lian and Julia Wong fell like the tenpins.
Jing Yi will take on Nozomi Okuhara of Japan next and is hoping to reach her first quarter-final of an Open tournament.
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