Badminton: Fairuzizuan thrilled over chance to play in Asiad

TheStar Oct 23

PETALING JAYA: Back-up doubles pairs Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui are all excited over the prospect of replacing veterans Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah in the team for the Doha Asian Games.

Getting to feature in the Asiad for the first time will be their biggest career breakthrough.

But first the duo have to keep up their good showing in international tournaments at the invitational US$250,000 World Cup, which will begin tomorrow in Yiyang, China.

“It will be the biggest surprise for us if we are indeed named for the Asian Games. Coach Rexy (Mainaky) told us to be ready, just in case, a few days ago,” said the 22-year-old Fairuzizuan.

“Both of us have waited for an opportunity like this for a long time. We will be ready to take up the responsibilities.”

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are expected to announce changes to the men's doubles line-up for the Asiad soon.

It is almost certain that Fairuzizuan-Woon Fui will replace Tan Fook-Wan Wah, who went down tamely to Japanese Keishi Kawaguchi-Naoki Kawamae in the second round of the just concluded China Open in Guangzhou. Another youngster, Tan Boon Heong, is expected to replace Chan Chong Ming in partnering Koo Kien Keat.

Boon Heong-Kien Keat did well to emerged as the runners-up in the recent Japan Open.

Fairuzizuan said that their selection would certainly make up for a major disappointment of not getting into the team for the Thomas Cup Finals in Japan in May.

The former national champions had high hopes of making the team following their good showing at the All-England where they reached the semi-finals. But the BAM opted for experience in the team.

“We got over the disappointment quickly and continued to train hard,” he said.

Thanks to their diligence, the duo emerged as Malaysia's best performers in the men's doubles at the World Championships in Madrid last month, reaching the quarter-finals.

Fairuzizuan will be not be celebrating Hari Raya with his family in Taiping tomorrow. He will be gunning for good results in the World Cup.

“Some of the top men's pairs will be there. It is a good opportunity for us to create some upsets,” he said.

“Besides, the prize money is lucrative. I will try to make my duit Raya there.”

Among those in the fray are world champions Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun of China, Danes Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Indonesians Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto and Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan.

Besides Fairuzizuan-Woon Fui, the other Malaysians who will compete in the World Cup are Gan Teik Chai-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif, Kuan Beng Hong, Yeoh Kay Bin, Wong Mew Choo, Julia Wong and Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty.

 

They are not out of BAM