HYDERABAD, Aug 14 — Two Malaysian doubles pairs, Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong smashed their way into the Yonex-Sunrise World Badminton Championships semi-finals Friday.
In their quarter-final match, Mohd Zakry and Mohd Fairuzizuan defeated South Korea’s Gun Woo Cho-Yeon Seong Yoo 17-21 21-12, 21-14 at the Gachibowli Stadium, here.
"We did not expect them to open the game early in the first set and we had to continuously maintain our defence. But we managed to come back in the second and third. We had worked hard for this tournament," Mohd Fairuzizuan told reporters.
Despite losing the first set, the Malaysian pair managed to dominate the subsequent two sets with powerful smashes and widened their lead on several occasions, which made it hard for the Koreans to level.
"We were under pressure in the first match but we tried to relax and let the game flow in the subsequent matches.
"We always failed in the quarter-finals before but this time we did not want to waste this chance and tried our best. We are mentally ready for tomorrow," added Mohd Zakry.
Later, the pair of Kien Keat and Boon Heong upset their American opponents Howard Bach-Tony Gunawan.
Kien Keat-Boon Heong overpowered the Americans 22-20, 13-21, 21-7 in another exciting quarter-final.
But a tough contest awaits Mohd Fairuzizuan-Mohd Zakry as the Malaysian pair will be meeting Chinese pair Yun Chai-Haifeng Fu, seeded fifth in Hyderabad.
