Wan Arif (left) and Roy King in action against the second seeded Danish pair of Kim Anders and Skaarup Rasmussen in the semi-final of the Malaysia Masters.
KUALA LUMPUR: Up-and-coming national men's doubles pair Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King exited the Malaysia Masters 2024 semi-finals after a 13-21, 19-21 loss to second seeds Kim Astrup-Anders Skraarup Rasmussen of Denmark.
The match, held at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on Saturday (May 25), lasted 43 minutes.
Despite the setback, the world No 47 Malaysians can be proud of their Super 500 badminton championships journey, having beaten several seeded pairs to reach the last four.
Roy King, 23, admitted they were dissatisfied with their performance, particularly the unforced errors in the second game.
However, he expressed optimism about their next assignment—the 2024 Australian Open in Sydney from June 11 to 16.
"You cannot compare us to the seniors based on this one tournament. Being the only Malaysian pair to reach the semi-finals, I feel it's a healthy competition for the men's doubles camp as we continuously push each other to get better results,” he told reporters.
Wan Arif, 21, hopes for greater consistency in defeating top players and remaining injury-free.
He also emphasised the need to be bolder in decision-making during crucial points against higher-ranked pairs.
"Having reached the semi-finals here, I want us to set the same target in upcoming tournaments. We did well in this tournament, giving a good fight to players in the top 10 and top 20.
"It shows we are not too far behind them. We learnt from them how to control the rhythm during crucial points,” he said.
Wan Arif-Roy King can certainly look back at the Malaysia Masters 2024 with pride. They defeated China's Xie Hao Nan-Zeng Wei Han 21-16, 21-12 in the opening round, world No 4 Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan of Taiwan 13-21, 21-15, 21-18 in the second round, and sixth seeds Rasmus Kjaer-Frederick Soogard of Denmark 21-18, 14-21, 21-18 in the quarter-finals. - Bernama
