PETALING JAYA: Doubles shuttler Mak Hee Chun is one who fears none in competitions.
And he is eagerly looking forward to an opportunity to play against Indonesian giants Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan in the Asian Badminton Championships (ABC), which begin tomorrow in Suwon, South Korea.
The former world junior champion Hee Chun partners Tan Wee Kiong and he will be making his debut in the ABC.
“They are the world and Olympic champions. We have a chance of meeting them in the quarter-finals and hopefully, we will get the match. It will be good to see where we stand against them,” said Hee Chun.
The Indonesian pair were absent from tournaments in Europe last month, including the All-England and Swiss Open, because Markis was down with a knee injury.
To get to a match against the Indonesians, Hee Chun-Wee Kiong, who are ranked 130th in the world, have to get past sixth seeds Cheng Hung-ling-Lin Yu-lang of Taiwan in the second round.
Hee Chun-Wee Kiong are seen as a pair with good potential. They went down fighting to the Danish top pair of Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen in the opening round of the Malaysian Open in January. They also did well to reach their first quarter-finals at the German Open in March.
But their good run came to a halt after a tame defeat by Hendri Kurniawan Saputra-Hendra Wijaya of Singapore in the first round of the India Open recently. Hee Chun was upset over their performance in Hyderabad.
“It was our worst performance together. But the defeat told us that our combination is not as solid as we had thought,” he said.
“We have to improve and catch up with the seniors (Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif) in the team. We want to take part in many Open tournaments to improve on our world rankings.”
