TheStar Aug22 Malaysia’s challenge in the World Badminton Championships ended on a sad note when Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat failed in their bid to overcome fancied Indonesians Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto in the men’s doubles semi-finals at the Arrowhead Pond on Saturday. Chong Ming-Kien Keat surrendered a six-point lead in the first game to allow the second seeded Indonesians to claim victory at 15-9, 15-11. The top Malaysian combination had claimed the scalps of two higher seeded pairs to reach the semi-finals and they looked good to score another upset win. Chong Ming-Kien Keat attacked aggressively and defended stoutly to build up a healthy 9-3 lead in the first game. But Kien Keat ran into a spate of errors and this paved the way for Candra-Sigit to storm back. Candra-Sigit, who are the 1997 world champions, soon levelled the score and went on to take the game without dropping a point at 15-9. In the second game, the more experienced Indonesians were effective with their jabs and smashes and led 11-5 and 13-7. Chong Ming-Kien Keat saved match point and went up to 11 points before surrendering the match. En route to the semi-finals, Chong Ming-Kien Keat eliminated All-England champions Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun of China in the third round and Athens Olympics bronze medallists Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian of Indonesia in the quarter-finals. Kien Keat said that he felt sorry for Chong Ming for not being able to do better. “We lost confidence after losing the first game. We had a good lead and played well but we failed to close the game. We should have had a discussion on how to break their momentum when they were coming back,” said the 19-year-old Kien Keat, who was making his first appearance in the championships. Although Chong Ming-Kien Keat fell short of reaching the final, they deserved the credit for their fighting performance. Candra-Sigit will make a bid to win a second world title. They were the champions in the 1997 edition in Glasgow, beating Malaysians Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock in the final. The 30-year-old Candra said that they were looking forward to becoming world champions again. “We reached the final two years ago but lost to Denmark’s Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen,” he said. “We beat them in the quarter-finals and after beating the Malaysian pair, we have become more confident of ourselves.” Candra-Sigit will play against the American pair of Tony Gunawan-Howard Bach in the final. The 13th seeded Americans prevented an all-Indonesian final, beating fourth seeds Luluk Hadiyanto-Yulianto Alven 15-9, 15-13 in the other semi-final. Ironically, Tony was Candra’s partner in the gold medal winning combination at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Then, Candra formed a partnership with Tony because Sigit was under suspension for a dope offence.
I believe with a team of young players we have currently, Msia can become a force in MD in coming years!! Watch out!
