PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani believe they can climb back up to the world No. 1 rankings if they return to winning titles.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin are currently ranked No. 9 in the world and know that the race for qualification to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will begin a year from now.
To keep their hopes alive of making it to the biggest sporting event in the world, they will need to be at least in the top eight of the Olympic qualification rankings, which will run from May 3, 2027 to April 30, 2028.
It will not be an easy task as they will have to battle fellow Malaysians Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun for a place in the Olympic qualification positions.
As such, Sze Fei-Izzuddin believe their main focus must be on improving their performances and getting back to winning ways, with the rankings expected to take care of themselves.
“We focus more on performance and winning titles, and automatically the ranking will go up,” said Izzuddin.
The pair missed out on the 2024 Paris Olympics after finishing No. 15 in the qualification rankings, with a country only allowed to send two representatives if both pairs are ranked in the top eight.
However, they enjoyed an impressive run in 2023 and 2024, regularly finishing on the podium, with their biggest breakthrough coming when they became the first Malaysian men’s doubles pair to win the China Open in 2024.
They started the 2025 season as the world No. 2 pair and rose to No. 1 a few months later. However, they were unable to hold on to the top spot after a dip in form.
They came close to winning their second title of the year after capturing the Indonesian Masters crown in January, but were denied in the Malaysian Masters final after losing to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin will continue their campaign in the Singapore Open, which begins today, where they will take on Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the first round.
