Koo-Tan face Indons in repeat of Asiad final

KUALA LUMPUR: It will be a repeat of the Asian Games final when Malaysia’s hot-shots Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong take on Indonesian stars Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan in the Malaysian Open semi-finals today. 

Yesterday, Kien Keat-Boon Heong battled to a 21-13, 21-17 win over Japan’s Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda in the quarter-finals to stay as the lone Malaysian hope in the men’s doubles. 

The young pair of Ong Soon Hock-Tan Bin Shen, who had upset world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China a day earlier, went down 18-21, 11-21 to the American-Indonesian pair of Tony Gunawan-Candra Wijaya. 

Despite yesterday’s win, Kien Keat-Boong Heong were far from satisfied with their performances. 

Moving on: Tan Boon Heong (left) and Koo Kien Keat celebrateafter beating Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro to reach the men’sdoubles quarter-finals on Friday.

The 22-year-old Kien Keat said: “The match was not exciting at all. The quality was poor. Both sides were guilty of making unforced errors.” 

“Fortunately, we won. We have do take our game to a higher level if we are to win tomorrow,” he added. 

Markis-Hendra, meanwhile, upset second seeds and two-time All-England champions Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark 17-21, 21-16, 30-28 in a thrilling match that went down the wire. 

Now, the Indonesian world number five pair are gunning for revenge. But the Malaysians are not going to make it easy for them.  

“It will not be easy to beat them especially after upsetting them for the first time at the Asian Games just last month,” said Kien Keat. “I know they will be going all out to beat us.” 

The 19-year-old Boon Heong, who played poorly in the second game yesterday, vowed to redeem himself with a better showing against the Indonesians. 

“We did not bring out our best game today. I will make amends tomorrow with a better showing,” said Boon Heong. 

The 22-year-old Soon Hock was disappointed for failing to reach the semi-finals. 

“We could have played better. But our opponents were too experienced. But it was a good experience for Bin Shen and I,” said Soon Hock. 

The other semi-final will be between Tony-Candra and South Koreans Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae.