PETALING JAYA: Seeing his former partner Wan Arif Wan Junaidi soar to new heights has motivated Mohd Haikal Nazri to aim higher.
Haikal and current partner Choong Hon Jian are set to take on Arif-Yap Roy King in the Hong Kong Open second round today.
Haikal-Hon Jian, who came through a qualifying round, fought hard to beat South Korean veterans Kim Gi-jung-Kim Sa-rang 21-11, 16-21, 21-18 in the first round at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon yesterday.
The victory came a day after Roy King-Arif stole the limelight by sensationally beating Denmark’s world No. 4 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-19, 23-21 to book their own spot in the second round.
Haikal, who used to play with Arif before a partnership reshuffle in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) two years ago, is fired up to do better with Hon Jian after seeing his former partner’s fine progress with Roy King.
Roy King-Arif beat Haikal-Hon Jian en route to capturing the Macau Open title a month ago.
“I’m happy to see Arif doing well with Roy King. I didn’t feel down after losing to them in Macau. In fact, I feel happy to see a Malaysian pair going on to win the title,” said Haikal, who is currently ranked No. 46 in the world with Hon Jian.
“Arif’s progress with Roy King motivates me to do well with Hon Jian. There’s healthy competition between us and this is good as it pushes all of us to aim higher.
“It does not matter who wins when we play each other. It’s only important that one of us goes on to win the title.”
Haikal is showing signs of regaining his best form with Hon Jian after the 22-year-old’s hip injury slowed them down in the beginning of the year.
World No. 20 Roy King-Arif though will still start as the favourites against their teammates.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Malaysia will also be assured of a representative in the quarter-finals after world No. 8 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie and world No. 14 Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin set up a clash with each other.
Soon Huat-Shevon were given a scare by Taiwanese qualifiers Lin Bing-wei-Lin Jhih-yun before using their experience to prevail 13-21, 23-21, 21-8.
In contrast, Pang Ron-Su Yin faced little trouble dispatching Ukraine’s Oleksii Titov-Yevheniia Kantemyr of Ukraine 21-14, 21-14.
