Stay tuned: Ong Yew Sin (back) and Teo Ee Yi will be out to make their mark in the world meet too.
PETALING JAYA: South Korean shuttlers were the dominant force in the men’s doubles when Copenhagen hosted the World Championships on three previous occasions, but independent coach Rosman Razak believes that the sequence will be broken this time.
The world title at the 1991, 1999 and 2014 editions held in the capital of Denmark were captured by Korean pairs Park Joo-bong-Kim Moon-soo, Ha Tae-kwon-Kim Dong-moon and Ko Sung-hyun-Shin Baek-cheol respectively.
Only in 1983 when Copenhagen played host to the major event for the first time, local favourites Steen Fladberg-Jesper Halladie won it.
For this year’s edition in Denmark, South Korea do have a strong representation in the men’s doubles in world No. 6 Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae and world No. 14 Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho.
However, Rosman said past records have been deemed obsolete when it comes to men’s doubles where it’s hard to predict a winner and any pair in the top 20 were capable of serving a surprise.
“It may have been a coincidence that South Korea had done well in Copenhagen but times have changed and there are so many pairs who can go all the way next week,” said Rosman.
“Previously, there was a situation that the top four pairs will be very strong and it was hard to deny any of them from winning the title.
“However, the current pairs in the top 20 have shown that they are capable of winning international titles.
“So, it’s not just South Korea, China or Indonesia but also other nations who will be aiming to win and the list also includes Malaysian pairs.”
Since South Korea’s last success through Sung-hyun-Baek-cheol, China have won back-to-back titles through Zhang Nan-Liu Cheng (2017) and Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (2018) while Indonesian veterans Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan had double success in 2015 and 2019.
Yugo Kobayashi-Takuro Hoki also broke the duck for Japan in the men’s doubles by triumphing in 2021 while it was Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik’s turn to end Malaysia search for a first world badminton crown in Tokyo last year.
It will be a long list of contenders starting from world No. 1 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia who have three other compatriots – Ahsan-Hendra, Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin and Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana who will be aiming for glory.
China also have two solid pairs in Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang and Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi while Kobayashi-Hoki, Taiwan’s Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin, in-form Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and local favourites Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen are all part of the battle royale that would take place at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
Not to forget the presence of defending champions Aaron-Wooi Yik, debutants Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and Rosman’s charges Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi who will be going all out to ensure Malaysia are also part of such a keen contest that probably had never been witnessed in the World Championships.
