Kien Keat-Boon Heong fall to mighty Chinese pair

LONDON: The gold medal dreams of Malaysia’s number one men’s doubles pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong ended in a rather subdued fashion as the duo lost to Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng of China in the semifinals at the Wembley Arena here today.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong, the world number eight lost 9-21, 19-21 to the world number one pair in just 36 minutes.

The Malaysian pair, however, will have a chance to redeem themselves when they battle against Chung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae of South Korea in the third place decider for the bronze medal, tomorrow.

Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng will face Denmark’s Mathias Boe/Carsten Morgensen in the final tomorrow.

In today’s semifinals, the Malaysians opened account in the first set but the Chinese duo were in commanding form to wrap up the set 21-19 in just 13 minutes.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong came out fighting in the second set and matched the Chinese pair point-for-point until the mid-game break, but quickly lost concentration to concede the set 19-21.

In the other semifinal, world number three, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen upset world number two pair Chung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae 17-21, 21-18, 22-20.

Kien Keat said though the previous records were not in their favour, he was not nervous in the match.

“They changed their match temperament quickly which trapped us,” he said, while Boon Heong said the speed of their opponents forced them into many unforced errors.

“Now we got to try our best for the bronze,” he said.

Bernama