TheStar PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's top men pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah will go into the Athens Olympics boosted by their status as the world number one pair for the first time in their badminton career. In the latest rankings released by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) yesterday, the pair moved up one rung to replace reigning world champions Jonas Rasmussen-Lars Paaske of Denmark at the top of the list. “It feels good to finally being ranked as the world number one pair for the first time,†said the 29-year-old Wan Wah yesterday. “But the main task now is to win a medal at the Olympics. Then our status as the world number one will be justified.†The Athens Games badminton competitions are scheduled for Aug 14-21 at the Goudi Olympic Hall and Tan Fook-Wan Wah are the fourth seeds. In the latest work rankings, Rasmussen-Paaske fell to third spot and South Koreans Kim Dong-moon-Ha Tae-kwon are now at number two. China's Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng dropped one rung to number four. National doubles chief coach Yap Kim Hock said that it was good that the pair were now ranked number one and he hoped that Tan Fook-Wan Wah would justify it with a gold medal. “The world number one spot will only mean something if they get among the medallists in the Olympics,†said Kim Hock. Besides Tan Fook-Wan Wah, Malaysia will be represented by Chew Choon Eng-Chan Chong Ming in the men's doubles. Malaysia have only succeeded in winning medals in the Olympics in badminton. When the sport made its debut in the 1992 Barcelona Games, the men's doubles pair of Razif Sidek-Jalani Sidek were the bronze medallists. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock won the men's doubles silver medal and Rashid Sidek took bronze in the men's singles. Malaysia were without a medal in the 2000 Sydney Games. Then Tan Fook-Wan Wah were beaten by Dong-moon-Tae-kwon in the playoff for the bronze medal.
