Family time: Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun will enjoy their short break for Chinese New Year before returning to prepare for the Asia Mixed Team Championships. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi received a timely boost ahead of the Asia Mixed Team Championships from Feb 11-16 in Qingdao, China after reaching career-high rankings.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun moved up one rung to No. 12 in the latest rankings after capturing the Indonesian Masters title on Sunday.
The pair are one step closer to realising their dream of breaking into the world’s top 10.
Roy King-Arif also impressed in Indonesia when they made it into the last eight before losing to Wei Chong-Kai Wun and rose from No. 20 to No. 17 in the world.
The youngsters proved that they have what it takes to close the gap to their seniors when they stunned Indonesian legends Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan and Taiwan’s world No. 8 Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan to reach the quarter-finals.
Both Wei Chong-Kai Wun and Roy King-Arif have justified their selection for the Asia team meet which also acts as a qualifier for the Sudirman Cup from April 27-May 4 in Xiamen, China.
Both pairs have been given the opportunity to shine in the tourney in the absence of world No. 2 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and world No. 5 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, who have been rested.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun are determined to continue their fine form in the team event.
“We don’t want to be too happy yet (after winning the Indonesian Masters title) as we still have room for improvement and we need to train harder,” said Wei Chong.
“We will enjoy our short break for Chinese New Year before returning to prepare for the Asia team meet.”
Wei Chong-Kai Wun and Roy King-Arif can stake claims for places in the Sudirman Cup with good showings in Qingdao.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles pair Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee also received a shot in the arm ahead of the team meet when they jumped 18 spots to No. 48 in the rankings.
The duo have remained under the radar but enjoyed a breakthrough in the Indonesian tourney when they progressed to their first World Tour Super 500 quarter-finals.
Mei Xing-Pei Kee, who only combined last June, toppled Taiwan’s world No. 18 Sung Shuo-yun-Yu Chien-hui and India’s world No. 19 Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto en-route to the last eight before losing to China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian.
The Malaysians have a tough task in the Asia team event without national No. 1 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah but can bring some positives from their encouraging outing in Indonesia.
Pearly-Thinaah, who finished runners-up in Indonesia, have leaped two places to No. 5 in the world.
In the Asia team meet, Malaysia have been placed in a difficult Group B along with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan.
Only the top two teams in the group will reach the quarter-finals.
