Macau Open: They're Back! It's an All-Malaysian Final in Men's Doubles After months of disappointing their fans and making the news with various stories of dissent within the ranks, Malaysia's top two pairs, Koo Kien Keat / Tan Boon Heong and Choong Tan Fook / Lee Wan Wah are back! And they have proven it in the most convincing fashion: by beating the 2006 and 2005 World Champions respectively, and in straight games, no less! By Don Hearn; Photos: Badmintonphoto (Archives) All England Champions Koo/Tan controlled their match against Kido/Setiawan from start to finish. They played suberb defense, seeming to have no fear of the World Champions' normally devastating attacks. The Indonesians made an unsuccessful, late rally in the first game but the second was over before it began and Koo/Tan took it home 21-18, 21-11. Choong/Lee had a little more trouble with last year's world champions but the veterans showed mental toughness befitting their age and refused to crack under the pressure, finishing the match 22-20, 21-18. The Asian Champions are entering their first final in five months and are hungry for their second tournament win of the year. In the remaining four events, Chinese players are the clear favourites. Chen Jin squeaked out a 21-13, 16-21, 24-22 win over Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia. He will face Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, who won in straight games but by a narrower margin over Park Sung-hwan of Korea, 25-23, 21-19. Taufik is in his third final in a row but neither man has won a tournament in the last 6 months. Lee Hyo-jung of Korea and Cheng Wen Hsing of Chinese Taipei both failed in their bids to enter the finals in two events. Lee and Han Sang-hoon fell apart late in the deciding game, giving away an embarassing 8 straight points to bestow the victory upon Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen. The Chinese will play Cheng and partner Fang Chieh Min, who beat their compatriots Chen/Chou. Lee's and Cheng's fortunes were opposite in the women's doubles, however. Lee and partner Lee Kyung-won took care of Jiang/Li of Singapore without much trouble while Cheng/Chien's losing streak against the top Chinese pairs continued unabated as Gao Ling and Huang Sui scored a 14th straight victory to book their spot in the finals against the Koreans. Lee/Lee, for their part, have only beaten Gao/Huang once in their career, at last year's Chinese Taipei Open while the Chinese pair have had the upper hand 5 times There weren't many fireworks in the women's singles event. Adriyanti Firdasari gave Jun Jae-youn a run for her money in their first game but fell apart in the second to give Jun the win 23-21, 21-10. Lu Lan couldn't cope with her compatriot Xie Xingfang and Xie won 21-16, 21-12. Jun, who had a relatively easy road to the final, hasn't won this big a tournament in well over two years. She may take heart in the fact that Xie is the only one of the top Chinese women whom she has ever beaten; however, those two wins happened many years ago, before Jun injured her knee and Xie became virtually unbeatable by all but Zhang Ning. Xie has beaten Jun 4 times since, most recently a thorough trouncing in the Japan Open semi-finals.
"history does repeat itself". . . i retrieved this pic (courtesy of lurker/ wc07) when CTF/LWW dethroned Cai and Fu during their quarterfinals match. CTF/LWW: they are now back!
haha.. vching was bashing actually.. i was going to scold him/her jux now.. wakak.. phew~ all m'sian final.. ROX!
next time i bash... i have to put big big sign up to avoid misunderstanding btw its not the first time that my gender is being confused im a HE!!!
Finally reached home after the Macau trip. As expected, Kido/Hendra indeed lost to KKK/TBH in an anti-climax match It was clear that the INA pair could not overcome the mental barrier of having not won against the MAS pair and this affected their style from the start of the first set. As with previous matches against KKK/TBH, Kido/Hendra again let them establish a healthy lead which was difficult to overturn and too many times they were let down by their own unforced errors The second set was even more difficult to watch and it reminded me of the second set of the Chinese-Taipei Open Final, only this time, Kido/Hendra's role was reversed...they were at the receiving ends. Lots of uncharacteristic errors and very poor performance from Markis Kido. He looked tense from the start and that affected the INA pair's rhtym. The MAS pair wrapped up the second set without even breaking a sweat Indeed, this is probably Kido/Hendra's WORST performance against a non-INA pair for quite a while. Sigit Pamungkas immediately gave a prep talk after the match and he gave a very detailed analysis of the match. The INA pair simply did not appear confident of winning the match and could not execute their plan. The key thing is the next time these 2 pairs meet again, come to the court with a NOTHING TO LOSE attitude. Anyway, they are already the WORLD CHAMPION! So, congrats to the MAS camp for a brilliant performance in the Men's Doubles today!
I and Fastdrop enjoyed Macau Open...organizer is friendly to us....hehe..Cant you guys what we got....hehe
I mean I cant tell you guys what we got..... it is a nice trip so far...may be Fastdrop will tell more...but not from me for sure...
MAS MD really excel in Macau. Good work. But we will be back... INA MD are plotting our comeback as we speak...
Yup...I echo Krisna's comments! WE INA Fans will not wail or jeer our players/pairs in defeat. Anyway, we still hold the TWO World Championships titles (including MD) till 2009 There's no doubting that It's better to learn from mistakes now and hope Kido/Hendra will be stronger after this painful lesson and show us they can win the Gold next year!
The MD pairs are fiercely contested, any top pair can beat one another on any given day so there's no surprise if INA to do well on next tournament except against the Malaysians, NO WAY and over my dead body MALAYSIA BOLEH!