PETALING JAYA: Young men’s doubles shuttlers Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi believe their time to shine will come soon after seeing seniors Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun excel.
Inspired by Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s victory in the Indonesian Masters last month, Roy King-Arif are out to end their World Tour title drought when they compete in the German Open (Feb 25-March 2) in Mulheim, Orleans Masters (March 4-9) in France and All-England (March 11-16) in Birmingham.
The youngsters, who are currently ranked No. 19 in the world, came closest to winning a title in the World Tour when they finished runners-up in the Spain Masters last year.
Roy King-Arif are keen to build on their impressive showing in the Indonesian tourney where they upstaged home legends Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan and Taiwan’s world No. 8 Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan before losing to Wei Chong-Kai Wun in the last eight.
“We hope to win our first World Tour title in the upcoming European tournaments,” said Arif.
“We are inspired by Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s achievement and our confidence has increased after making it into the quarter-finals in Indonesia.
“We need to play with more patience and be consistent in our shots.”
In the German tourney, Roy King-Arif are seeded third behind only England’s world No. 13 Ben Lane-Sean Vendy and Denmark’s world No. 14 Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard.
The Malaysian duo will open their campaign against Denmark’s world No. 42 William Kryger-Christian Faust.
A good showing in the World Tour Super 300 competitions in Germany and France will give Roy King-Arif a boost before they make their debuts in the Super 1000 All-England.
“We definitely want to do well in Germany and Orleans before the All-England,” said Arif.
“We have to be physically ready to play in three tournaments in a row. We also need to take care of ourselves as the weather will be cold in Europe.
“So far, our preparations are going well. We have been working on our service and receiving under new coach Herry (Iman Pierngadi) and we hope to implement what we have been practising on in training in the tournaments.”
Meanwhile, the other men’s doubles pairs in the fray for Malaysia in the German Open are Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, world junior champions Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing and Chia Weijie-Lwi Shenghao.
