Badminton: Fairuz and Zakry get wild card for the world meet
By LIM TEIK HUAT
PETALING JAYA: The newly-formed doubles combination of Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif were the surprise picks for the World Championships to be held in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 13-19.
Doubles head coach Rexy Mainaky has opted to give the wild card entry to Fairuzizuan-Mohd Zakry and they will join the veteran pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and All-England champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong to form Malaysia’s doubles challenge at the world meet.
The inclusion of Fairuzizuan-Zakry comes in the wake of their impressive performance in the Indonesian Open last week.
The duo surprised everybody by reaching the final. En route to the final, they stunned Danes Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen and the experienced Indonesian-American combination of Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan, the defending champions.
In the final, Fairuzizuan-Zakry put up a fighting display before losing 17-21, 20-22 to world number one and top seeds Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China.
Fairuzizuan-Zakry reached the semi-finals in their first outing – in the Asian Badminton Championships in Johor Baru and were quarter-finalists in the Singapore Open.
Fairuzizuan-Zakry, ranked a lowly 80th in the world, were certainly surprised that they had been picked over the more established combination of Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock, the country’s third ranked pair.
Bin Shen-Soon Hock, ranked 17th in the world, were not among the list of eligible qualifiers under Phase 1 when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) made the cut-off on April 30.
Malaysia have yet to win the world title and expectations are on the men’s doubles pairs to end the drought this time.
Fairuzizuan and Zakry were both surprised to have earned a place in the world meet.
“We are still a new pair. It never crossed my mind that we can get to play in the World Championships. I never thought about this at all when we were first paired off because we wanted to improve ourselves first,” said Zakry.
Fairuzizuan said: “I did not expect this. This is a surprise to me.”
Under the regulations for the world meet, the host country can nominate a wild card entry for all events. BAM decided to hand out wild card entries for the men’s and women’s singles events to Roslin Hashim and promising youngster Lydia Cheah respectively.
Roslin, of Nusa Mahsuri, is the fourth highest ranked Malaysian shuttler in the world rankings.
Indonesian Open champion Lee Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim and KLRC Berhad player Lee Tsuen Seng, the top three highest ranked Malaysians in the world rankings, complete the men’s singles squad.
Malaysia's squad for the World Championships
Men’s singles: Lee Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Lee Tsuen Seng, Roslin Hashim (wild card).
Women’s singles: Wong Mew Choo, Julia Wong, Lydia Cheah (wild card).
Men’s doubles: Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif (wild card).
Women’s doubles: Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui, Lim Pek Siah-Joanne Quay, Fong Chew Yen-Ooi Sock Ai (wild card).
Mixed doubles: Joanne Quay-Daniel Shirley (Nzl); Tan Wee Kiong-Woon Khe Wei (wild card).
By LIM TEIK HUAT
PETALING JAYA: The newly-formed doubles combination of Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif were the surprise picks for the World Championships to be held in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 13-19.
Doubles head coach Rexy Mainaky has opted to give the wild card entry to Fairuzizuan-Mohd Zakry and they will join the veteran pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and All-England champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong to form Malaysia’s doubles challenge at the world meet.
The inclusion of Fairuzizuan-Zakry comes in the wake of their impressive performance in the Indonesian Open last week.
The duo surprised everybody by reaching the final. En route to the final, they stunned Danes Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen and the experienced Indonesian-American combination of Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan, the defending champions.
In the final, Fairuzizuan-Zakry put up a fighting display before losing 17-21, 20-22 to world number one and top seeds Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China.
Fairuzizuan-Zakry reached the semi-finals in their first outing – in the Asian Badminton Championships in Johor Baru and were quarter-finalists in the Singapore Open.
Fairuzizuan-Zakry, ranked a lowly 80th in the world, were certainly surprised that they had been picked over the more established combination of Tan Bin Shen-Ong Soon Hock, the country’s third ranked pair.
Bin Shen-Soon Hock, ranked 17th in the world, were not among the list of eligible qualifiers under Phase 1 when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) made the cut-off on April 30.
Malaysia have yet to win the world title and expectations are on the men’s doubles pairs to end the drought this time.
Fairuzizuan and Zakry were both surprised to have earned a place in the world meet.
“We are still a new pair. It never crossed my mind that we can get to play in the World Championships. I never thought about this at all when we were first paired off because we wanted to improve ourselves first,” said Zakry.
Fairuzizuan said: “I did not expect this. This is a surprise to me.”
Under the regulations for the world meet, the host country can nominate a wild card entry for all events. BAM decided to hand out wild card entries for the men’s and women’s singles events to Roslin Hashim and promising youngster Lydia Cheah respectively.
Roslin, of Nusa Mahsuri, is the fourth highest ranked Malaysian shuttler in the world rankings.
Indonesian Open champion Lee Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim and KLRC Berhad player Lee Tsuen Seng, the top three highest ranked Malaysians in the world rankings, complete the men’s singles squad.
Malaysia's squad for the World Championships
Men’s singles: Lee Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Lee Tsuen Seng, Roslin Hashim (wild card).
Women’s singles: Wong Mew Choo, Julia Wong, Lydia Cheah (wild card).
Men’s doubles: Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif (wild card).
Women’s doubles: Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui, Lim Pek Siah-Joanne Quay, Fong Chew Yen-Ooi Sock Ai (wild card).
Mixed doubles: Joanne Quay-Daniel Shirley (Nzl); Tan Wee Kiong-Woon Khe Wei (wild card).