PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani are determined to toughen up their defences and sharpen their focus ahead of the World Championships.
The world No. 6 pair admitted that lapses in focus and gaps in their defence proved costly in their Japan Open semi-final clash against South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho, which saw them bow out 12-21, 21-11, 13-21 on Saturday.
They will have another shot to get a timely boost at this week’s China Open before competing in the World Championships in New Delhi from Aug 17-23.
“We want to keep trying our best and improve before we get to the world champs,” said Sze Fei.
“The key takeaway for us from Japan is that we need to remain focused through every point.
“Our opponents were giving good shots and tried to attack more. Our defence wasn’t the best so we tried to attack.
“We were fine before the interval, but we lost our focus after that.”
The Malaysians had fought back from a game down to force the decider, but the world No. 1 South Koreans were too good.
Izzuddin, who won the Indonesian Open with Sze Fei last month, said they wished they had done better.
“It was disappointing because we lost our focus. We are satisfied with how we played but we believe we could have done better,” said Izzuddin.
At the China Open, Sze Fei-Izzuddin are seeded fifth and are slated to start their campaign against Taiwan’s Chen Zhi-ray-Lin Yu-chieh.
They will be aiming to improve on last year’s result after bowing out in the first round to South Koreans Kang Min-hyuk-Ki Dong-ju.
