PETALING JAYA: World champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei will look to bounce back from their SEA Games disappointment at the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou starting on Wednesday.
The reigning world champions fell 15-21, 16-21 to Thailand’s Ruttanapak Outpong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat in yesterday’s semi-finals, settling for a bronze medal.
But the pair know there is little time to dwell on the setback, with less than four days before they head to Hangzhou.
Based on yesterday’s draw, Tang Jie-Ee Wei have been seeded third and will face China’s Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping, Indonesia’s Jafar Hidayatullah-Felisha Pasaribu, and fellow Malaysians Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie in group B.
“We want to give our best and achieve the best results in every tournament. We regret that we could not perform well at the SEA Games,” said Tang Jie.
“We are not thinking about the World Tour. We are still reflecting on where we went wrong.”
Although the draw looks fair on paper, every opponent Tang Jie and Ee Wei will face poses a challenge, especially since most of pairs will be studying their SEA Games performance.
Despite being world champions, the pair remain humble and admitted they were still learning how to compete against the best in the world.
“This pair (Ruttanapak-Jhenica) will not be playing in the World Tour, but other teams will be watching how we play.
“We need to shift the momentum in our matches more quickly. We face all the top pairs regularly, and we’ve already played the Indonesian pair, Jafar and Felisha, five times. We are still learning how to play against the top pairs,” added Tang Jie.
In the women’s doubles, Malaysia’s sole representatives Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah were seeded top but handed a demanding draw in Group A.
They will come up against China’s Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian, as well as two Japanese pairs, Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto and Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi.
In the men’s doubles, debutants Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun were handed a relatively favourable draw in Group A.
They will take on Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza, Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang-chieh-Wang Chi-lin, with South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae expected to pose the sternest test.
Group B, however, has been labelled the group of death, with Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik set to face India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang, and Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri.
