Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani celebrates after win over Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura during the men’s doubles semi-final match of Asia Team Championships at Setia Alam Convention Centre on Saturday. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: National men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani’s draw for the upcoming Asian Championships is not easy, but the world No. 19 pair are unshaken by the tough match-up.
Taking place in Ningbo, China from April 9-14, Sze Fei-Izzuddin are slated to meet world No. 2 and world champions South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae in the opening round.
Sze Fei is well aware of the challenge that awaits them in China and says even if they were drawn to meet a lower ranked opponent, it would make no difference to their preparations.
“There is no such thing as an easy opponent. No one is easy, everyone is tough, especially at big tournaments,” said Sze Fei after his training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) yesterday.
“We have a target set for ourselves, and we are taking it as motivation for us to do well, not a reason to be pressured.”
Sze Fei-Izzuddin have only won one fixture against the South Koreans, but that was back in 2021 at the Indonesian Masters.
Min-hyuk-Seung-jae have won the other two encounters which came last year at the Australian Open and Korean Masters.
Sze Fei did admit that there was some level of pressure felt by the shuttlers as their opponents are formidable, but how they handled that pressure would be an important factor.
“There is some pressure because we are facing strong opponents at the start of the tournament, but we just have to handle it well. We aren’t thinking about it too much but will discuss what strategy to use with our coaches,” he said.
The pair did not participate at the Asian Championships last year, but in 2022 made their way into the semi-finals, only to be denied by compatriots Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik from reaching the final.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin will need to bring their ‘A’ game and hope to redeem themselves after a run of poor outings lately.
The pair have not made it past the second round of any tournament so far this year.
