Tokyo: Malaysia’s men’s doubles campaign has ended at the Japan Open on Wednesday as Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong, Teo Ee Yi/Ong Yew Sin, and Mohd Arif Latif/Nur Azriyn Ayub all fizzled out in the first round of the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament.
The Rio Olympic silver medalists Goh/Tan were off to a strong start when they took the first game against India’s Manu Attri/B. Sumeeth Reddy 21-15 in their opening match. However, the Indian pair manage to save a match point and ended up winning the second set 23-21. Goh/Tan couldn’t finish the match when leading 19-17 in the decider to suffer their first round exit by going down to Attri/Reddy 19-21 in 54 minutes.
The Indian pair will face China’s He Jiting/Tan Qiang next.
World No. 19 Teo Ee Yi/Ong Yew Sin who lost to Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the quarter-finals of the Asian Games two weeks ago, falling to the same opponents in their opener, losing in straight set 17-21,18-21 to the Asian Games silver medalists.
Malaysia’s independent pair Mohd Arif Latif/Nur Azriyn Ayub also went down 14-21, 21-17, 16-21 to Indonesian pair Berry Angriawan/Hardianto Hardianto.
Former Malaysian top men’s doubles player Jalani Sidek was unhappy with the results of the Malaysian pairs.
“Personally, losing in the first round of Japan Open is unacceptable. True, they are Malaysia’s best couples (Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong), but their attitude shows otherwise,” said Sidek.
Meanwhile, losing in the first round might not seem that bad for the Malaysian pairs as China’s No. 4 seeds Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan were upset by Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 14-21, 18-21.
Indonesia’s top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo beat Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 21-15, 21-15 to go through the first round.
