PETALING JAYA: The road has only become tougher for world No. 7 men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in the Thailand Open.
The duo have to beat top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India to reach the final in Bangkok today.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin have only beaten the world No. 4 pair twice in nine previous meetings.
The last time the two pairs met was at the Singapore Open in May last year, where the Malaysians went down to the Indians in the quarter-finals.
“Yes (very satisfying to reach semi-finals), but our target is not achieved yet. So we keep going,” said Izzuddin in an interview with the Badminton World Federation.
The Malaysians booked their spot in the last four after defeating Scotland’s Christopher Grimley-Matthew Grimley 19-21, 21-15, 21-8 in a 50-minutes quarter-final match at Nimibutr Stadium yesterday.
It marked Sze Fei-Izzuddin’s best result at the Thailand Open after previously reaching the quarter-finals in 2022 before skipping the next three editions.
“I think we struggled a bit in the first game, but we’re glad that we could come back in the second and third,” said Izzuddin.
“Our opponents played quite well today and the game plan wasn’t suitable for us, so we tried to change it,” he added.
Sze Fei also admitted the windy conditions inside the stadium caused them problems and said it would be among the aspects they need to handle better ahead of the semi-final match against the Indians.
“The opponents (the Grimley brothers) served better despite the drift in the hall. So it caused us a lot of problems when receiving serve, but I’m glad we managed it,” said Sze Fei.
