Unseeded pair better bet for Dutch title

Discussion in 'Dutch Open 2005 / Denmark Open 2005' started by ants, Oct 9, 2005.

  1. ants

    ants Regular Member

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    TheStar Oct10 '05
    PETALING JAYA: Mohd Fairuzizuan-Mohd Tazari may be the top seeded men's doubles pair but national head coach Yap Kim Hock is tipping Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah as the better bets for the title in the US$50,000 Dutch Open starting on Wednesday.

    Tan Fook-Wan Wah may be unseeded and only competing in their fifth tournament for the year but Kim Hock feels they have the better chance of picking up the title.

    “Tan Fook-Wan Wah have been included in the team for the Manila SEA Games next month and it will be a good boost for their confidence if they can do well in Dutch Open. Most of the top pairs are not competing and it will be good for Tan Fook-Wan Wah to seize on the opportunity to improve on their rankings,” said Kim Hock.

    Tan Fook-Wan Wah are the defending champions in the men's doubles competition for the SEA Games, which will be held from Nov 27-Dec 5.

    Despite the absence of the top Chinese and Indonesian pairs, Tan Fook-Wan Wah will not find it easy. Their first test should come against second seed Robert Mateusiak-Michal Logosz of Poland if they make it to the last eight.

    If the Malaysians win, they are likely to face Indonesian-born Tony Gunawan and Halim Haryanto, who now stays in United States, next.

    Gunawan, who bagged his second World Championships men's doubles crown partnering Howard Bach in Anaheim two months ago, is reunited with Haryanto again and they certainly have it in them to lift the title.

    Gunawan and Haryanto fought their way to the world title in Seville in 2001.

    Tan Fook-Wan Wah have made considerable improvement since they were reunited in the Singapore Open in June.

    They were the first round casualty in the Singapore Open and reached the second round in the Malaysian Open.

    However, the pair proved they are not ready to be written off yet when they beat China's top ranked pair Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun en route to reaching the final in the China Masters.

    Tan Fook-Wan Wah were also semi-finalists in the Indonesian Open last month and they beat three top pairs - Indonesians Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian and Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto; and Malaysian teammates Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat.

    The 30-year-old Wan Wah said they hoped to keep up the momentum in the Dutch and Danish Open (Oct 19-23).

    Tan Fook and Wah Wah are currently ranked 40th.

    “Physically, we have not reached the same level as we were before. This is only our fourth international tournament but there is improvement in every tournament.

    “We will try our best to go far,” said Wan Wah, who took a long break due to a recurring knee injury.
     

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