Heat is on: Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Rumsani captured the US Open, Taiwan and Abu Dhabi Masters last year but have struggled in higher tier World Tour events.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles coach Tan Bin Shen hopes that the decision to select Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani for the Asia Team Championships from Feb 13-18 in Setia Alam will pay off.
Bin Shen has kept faith in Sze Fei-Izzuddin despite seeing the pair suffer a dip in form lately after initially doing well since renewing their partnership in June.
The pair captured the US Open, Taiwan and Abu Dhabi Masters last year but have struggled in higher tier World Tour events.
World No. 21 Sze Fei-Izzuddin have suffered five consecutive early round defeats including in all three tournaments so far this year – the Malaysian and Indian Opens and Indonesian Masters.
In the Indonesian tourney, the duo suffered a shock 21-14, 14-21, 18-21 defeat at the hands of Thailand’s world No. 47 Pharanyu Kaosamaang-Worrapol Thongsanga in the second round in Jakarta.
Bin Shen acknowledged that his charges need to do better and wants them to bounce back in the Asia team meet, which also acts as the qualifiers for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals from April 27-May 5.
“I want Sze Fei-Izzuddin to take this tournament seriously and use this opportunity to collect ranking points,” said Bin Shen.
“They need to understand that we have included them as we need them to perform well.
“They have not been consistent lately. They played well against China’s Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi in the Indian Open second round but lost in three games.
“Although they lost, they showed improvement in the match but they could not maintain their form in the Indonesian Masters.
“They need to improve and get back to the form they showed before they split up,” added Bin Shen.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin had captured the 2022 German Open and reached a career high ninth in the world before suffering a drop in form and decided to split up last February, citing a lack of trust between each other.
The pair resolved their differences and reunited in June with the aim of making the cut for the Paris Olympics.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin face an uphill battle as they need to break into the world’s top eight before the end of the qualifying period in April to book their spot.
The duo could give themselves a better chance of making it to Paris by impressing in the team meet at home.
The other doubles pairs selected are national No. 1 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and youngsters Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri.
Lee Zii Jia, Ng Tze Yong, Leong Jun Hao and Eogene Ewe are the singles players called up for the competition.
