PETALING JAYA: A baptism of fire awaits men’s doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (pic) in their first outing as an independent pair in the Hong Kong Open starting tomorrow.
World No. 12 Sze Fei-Izzuddin will be the country’s highest ranked pair in the men’s doubles in the absence of world No. 3 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik but face a treacherous path after they were placed in the top half of the draw.
The former will likely face Indonesia’s Shohibul Fikri-Daniel Marthin in the second round while South Korea’s world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae and Denmark’s world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen could be lying in wait in the last eight and semi-finals respectively.
Before that, Sze Fei-Izzuddin have a tricky opening match against Taiwan’s world No. 26 Lee Fang-chih-Lee Fang-jen.
The Taiwanese duo proved they were no pushovers when they toppled China’s world No. 7 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu in the Japan Open first round last month.It has been a busy few weeks for Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who captured their biggest title so far in the World Tour Super 750 Japan tourney, before officially leaving the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) and signing a sponsorship deal with Victor.
The pair are getting used to their new status as professional players and will be hoping to hit the ground running in the Hong Kong meet.
A good performance in Hong Kong will give Sze Fei-Izzuddin a boost in their bid to break into the world’s top 10.
Meanwhile, the other men’s doubles pairs in the fray are Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, Asian Junior Championships silver medallists Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing and Lim Tze Jian-Wong Tien Ci.
Aaron-Khai Xing and Tze Jian-Tien Ci will begin their campaign in the qualifying rounds.
