TheStar 27th April KOO Kien Keat was the baby of the Malaysian team at the last Thomas Cup Finals in Jakarta two years ago. Today in Japan, he is the big man. He will be leading Malaysia’s charge in the men’s doubles with Chan Chong Ming as the first-ranked pair in the team. The other two pairs are veterans Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and the scratch combinations of Chew Choon Eng-Tan Boon Heong. With the role reversed from a reserve to a key player, the 21-year-old Kien Keat is determined to live up to expectations. In the 2004 Finals, he stole the show even though Malaysia did not advance beyond the quarter-finals. In a scratch partnership with Choon Eng, they came close to saving the tie against Indonesia. They went down fighting to the vastly experienced Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian and Malaysia bowed out 1-3. “I gave good performances in Jakarta but Malaysia still lost. That was not satisfying. This time, I want to go all the way to win points for Malaysia,” said Kien Keat. Kien Keat-Chong Ming started their journey as a pair two years ago after chief coach Yap Kim Hock made a major revamp to the doubles department following the failure of the team to win a medal in the Athens Olympics. They are now ranked sixth in the world and come into the Thomas Cup Finals in Japan as the Commonwealth Games gold medallists. “Winning the gold in Melbourne last month was a boost for us. Chong Ming and I have worked on our combinations. We’ve a chance to take on all the top pairs in the Thomas Cup,” he said. As the top pair, they have as their opposing numbers Indonesia’s Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto, China’s Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng, Denmark’s Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen and South Korea’s Hwang Ji-man-Han Sang-hoon. Of the four, Kien Keat-Chong Ming have never beaten the Indonesians and the Danes. Malaysia are in Group D with England and the United States and they are tipped to play against either South Korea or Indonesia in the quarter-finals. If they advance, they can expect to play against Denmark for a place in the final. Top seeds and defending champions China are in the other half of the knockout draw.
It should be interesting to see him and Chong Ming play against the current World Champions Tony G. and Howard B in their group play....i think that should be a pretty good first test for MAS 1st MD pair..
My prediction, TG/HB beat KKK/CCM in three matches. KKK/CCM will be under tremendous pressure against former Anaheim champions and have to play conservatively.....as a result....an unexpected result.
The latest news is that Tan Boon Hong might be partnered with KKK to take on the Americans this coming Friday.How I wish for Boon HOng to perform well in this partnership.IMHO if this partnership goes well than Malaysia will definitely have a very powerful pair for the world to contend with.Its a decision that is not easy to be made.Boon Hong is a very talented and versatile player coupled with a very impressive physique.He is over 6 feet tall and match him KKK its going to be dynamite.Watch out for this combination as I am sure Boon HOng was selected for the Thomas Cup team due to his huge potential.Let's hope this ace in Kim Hock'sleeve may be the secret weapon in MAS's quest for badminton supremacy in the world.Nothing is impossible as the man behind Malaysia's badminton coaching team is just awesome in his thinking and actions.Never before in the history of badminton in Malaysia have you seen such a big entourage of professionals in Tokyo to assist our players.YKH you are superb.Even PJB was in awe.
Too bad the match-up won't take place since Choong Tan Fook & Lee Wan Wah will be playing as 1st double.
I think most of the coaches are playing cat and mouse games. Do not want to reveal their real strength before the QF. This is to prevent the other coaches from preparing counter strategies based on current form.
Hmm, yah, if that's going to be the case, which i think it'll be, then it's too bad. Playing "cat and mouse" game, probably that's possible. But i just wonder, looking at the MAS squad, i don't see why they would do such "cat and mouse" game esp. against the US. I mean, they are clearly the favorite in this tie, even if they have to drop 1 point. I just slap and ask myself, how in the world are they going lose against the U.S. and then fielded LWW/CTF??Are they lacking "confidence" in KKK or whoever his partner is as 1st MD pair against U.S.'s 1st MD pair??..
SOrry guys but i heard Howard Bach did not join the US TC Team to Sendai, Japan .......So there goes the chance of US TC Team to steal a point ....
whoah, what happened to Howard??..no go??wow..so Tony will most likely pair up with Bob Malaythong then??..
the reason why playing cat & mouse is to avoid the coach from other country like south korea or indonesia(probably facing 1 of them in Quater Final) scout our players' form. If we lost 1 game out of 5, it will affected our confident in next game. that y YKH does this kind of strategy. Agains England soon, I believe, YKH will plays Kuan Beng Hong and maybe rest LCW or WCH or HH. Chan Chong Ming and KKK will play together. .. that malaysia's strategy. If Quater Final, I believe, the line up should be like this (if nothing bad happen): 1st Single: LCW 1st double: CCM-KKK 2nd Single: WCH 2nd DOuble: CTF-LWW 3rd Single: HH . Hope Malaysia will face China in Final and Malaysia win the tie with 3-2.
My guess is Japan has a strict rule to ban "sumo dance" on the court ...so he is automatically disqualified.
