Badminton: Rexy only has faith in top pair

By : K.M. Boopathy
NST ONLINE (http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Sport/20070718081032/Article/index_html)




DISAPPOINTING! That aptly sums up Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Fairuzizuan Tazari-Zakry Latif’s poor performances in the Thailand Open and China Masters.
And that disappointment has led national doubles coach Rexy Mainaky to discount them from producing any heroics in the World Championships at Putra Stadium on Aug 13-19.

Rexy, yet to find answers to the two pairs’ capitulation despite being in good form prior to Thailand and China, firmly believes Malaysia can win the World Championships and has faith in Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong to deliver.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong’s drastic loss of drop since winning the All England-Swiss Open double has been well documented but as far as Rexy is concerned, that’s history.

Rexy said the duo, especially Boon Heong, have rediscovered their hunger for success and they are very positive on court after focusing solely on training over the last four weeks following their dismal outing in the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow last month.
While the pair are expected to shoulder Malaysia’s huge burden, Rexy said it is also important that Tan Fook-Wan Wah, the most senior players in the national squad, and Fairuz-Zakry re-examine their performances to be more consistent in tournaments.

"I have only one word to describe their performance in Thailand and China. Disappointed. I just couldn’t rationalise their defeats as they were in perfect condition prior to the tournaments," said Rexy.

"I’m surprised with Tan Fook-Wan Wah as they seem to have an excuse well before they play and this time it was the speed of the shuttlecock and draft (in China).

"If one pair is having this problem, it is the same for others and that is a bad excuse.

"Zakry has been steady but Fairuz is still very inconsistent and he needs to remain focused and continue getting better results.

"I’m glad that Kien Keat-Boon Heong are regaining their form at the right time and it looks like I can only depend on them in the World Championships.

"I hope the other pairs realise the burden on them and improve their performance to give better support in the World Championships."

While Tan Fook-Wan Wah and Fairuz-Zakry will focus their attention in training until the World Championships, Kien Keat-Boon Heong will be competing in the Philippines Open, which begins today, as their final tune-up.

Rexy has set them a target of winning the Philippines Open to boost their confidence and only one pair — the Indonesian-American combination of Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan — stand in their way.

But the presence of Candra-Tony will could be a blessing in disguise as the former Olympic champions will provide Kien Keat-Boon Heong a quality warm-up before the all important World Championships.

There are no big names in Kien Keat-Boon Heong’s path and they are expected to meet sparring partners and former national players Chew Choon Eng-Hong Chien Hun in the last eight.

A likely semi-final meeting against Sigit Budiarto-Fran Kurniawan of Indonesia is on the cards if they advance.

In fact, Rexy decided to send Kien Keat-Boon Heong to the Philippines Open as winning the title will put them in a confident mood heading to the World Championships.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong need every kind of encouragement as they prepare for the World Championships with their teammates Tan Fook-Wan Wah, Fairuz-Zakry and to an extent, Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock, all out of form at a crucial time.

As usual, poor performance of CTF/LWW & F/Z in THA & CHN could be a blessing in disguise, this will put them as underdogs in the coming WC. Anyway, I just hope that the top pair can deliver.

From a neutral view, Malaysia still stands a good chance as far as MD is concern, much better than MS. (I know a lot of LCW's fan may disagree on this)

I keep a spreadsheet on the Super Series this year, and after 7 SS events, in the MD disciplines, Malaysia fair very well:

At QF stage: 15 team appearance out of possible 56, 27%, this is followed by Indonesia 13 out of 56, 23%.

At SF stage: 8 team appearance out of possible 28, 29%, this is joint-first with Indonesia with same figure.

At Final stage, 5 team appearance out of possible 14, 36%, this is followed by China (not Indonesia!) at 4 out of 14, 29%.

At Winning the MD title, 3 out of 7 43%, same as China. Korea took the remaining 1.

If you look at these data, Malaysia has the mass to compete in this field, and with a little help with the draw, actually Malaysia MD stands a very good chance, I mean to appear in in 5 SS MD finals, and winning 3 out of 5 SS finals you compete in is not easy task.

The bigger choker is actually Indonesia, although their teams made the same number of appearance as Malaysia up to SF stage, they dissapear from the radar from there and did not even win one SS MD title. This shows that they do lack the final thrust in dealing with the best pairs from other countries.

China on other hand, do not feature in high number appearances in QF and SF but they are there in the finals and winning the titles for the fact that they rely heavily on one MD pair of FHH/CY only.

So take heart, Malaysia MD, you may be in a slump right now, but you do have the talents and strength in this discipline.

i hope so. it's been a while since there's good news from the MD competition. and we banking to much on LCW while the rest of MS not performing, well, i hope LCW will not fell burdened or pressured. all the best for malaysian players from a fellow malaysian. :D

While it's true that Malaysia has 4-5 MD pairs that are quite capable but only one that actually has proven or won major titles. I think Rexy over-estimated the progress of MDs few months ago and as World Championship is getting closer and looking at the achievement so far ... no wonder Rexy only have faith on top pair!!!
Besides KKK/TBH, I think only Lee Wah Wah/Choong Tan Fook may advance deep into the rounds as I don't see other qualified pairs are capable with their current skill/power/speed.

Hope Rexy might not once again disapointed by KK/BH again in this philipines open, else he will be very very pissed.
I hope their second game turn out good.

WC will be a bit difference compare to Thai opem and China Master, .. This time Rexy will be around to guide the MD pairs. And Hopefully, they will success ...

Hope Rexy might not once again disapointed by KK/BH again in this philipines open, else he will be very very pissed.
I hope their second game turn out good.

i hope so too...i was a bit shocked when i looked at the final score..first set 21-19...but the scores for the latter sets were better..21-14, 21-11...guess kkk/tbh only got their momentum after the 1st set...hope they'll do better...they should win their early games by straight sets, to boost their confidence and show to the other top pairs who are not competing this time that they are back in action...anyway, i hope they can produce better results this time...

The major problem of these MAS pairs in the past few months is ... they've been "taking turn" to shine (by "shine" I meant advancing to the deepest among their teammates in a particular tournament). After KKK/TBH's form has dropped, CTF/LWW took over (ABC champion, SO runner-up). Then MF/MZ (IO runner-up). Then GTC/LWF (TO sf). Then OSH/TBS (CM sf). That means none of the pairs is consistent. Well, MAS fans could only hope that whichever pair is going to shine in WC, let's "shines" in the capacity of the world champion.