PETALING JAYA: Young doubles pair Gan Teik Chai-Koo Kien Keat’s hopes of gaining a place in the team to the Thomas Cup Finals in Jakarta next month soared yesterday when they cleared their qualifying hurdle in the Japan Open in Tokyo yesterday. Teik Chai-Kien Keat held off a stiff challenge from Japan’s Kawamae Naoki-Shinkai Yusuke to win 15-3, 13-15, 15-7 and earn their place in the main draw alongside two other Malaysian pairs – Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng. Teik Chai-Kien Keat defeated another Japanese pair, Ohta Shinji-Yamaguchi Hiroyuki, 15-11, 15-7 in their first qualifying match earlier. The Malaysian pair, who won their first international title in the French Open last month, will meet Chinese third seeds Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun in the first round today. The odds are stacked against Teik Chai-Kien Keat but doubles chief coach Yap Kim Hock hopes his charges will put up a good fight. “Teik Chai-Kien Keat have nothing to lose. It will be great if they can create an upset,” he said. The Japan Open is the last competition for the Malaysian players to prove their worth. The deadline for submission of names by all teams who have qualified for the Thomas Cup Finals is April 21. The Japan meet is also the last Open to offer Olympic qualifying points. Teik Chai also combined with Fong Chew Yen to qualify for the first round of the mixed doubles competition after beating Irish pair Donal O-Halloran-Huang Bing 15-8, 12-15, 15-10. Malaysia were left without any representatives in the women’s singles competition after both Wong Mew Choo and Woon Sze Mei failed to cleared their final hurdles in the qualifying stage. Mew Choo, the Vietnam SEA Games gold medallist, fell 7-11, 2-11 to China’s former world number one Dai Yun. Mew Choo receive a bye while Dai Yun defeated Japanese Hataya Yoshimi 11-5, 11-1 in the earlier round. Sze Mei, who played a pivotal role in helping Malaysia qualify for the Uber Cup Finals on merit for the first time in February, did well to beat world number 31 Lenny Permana of Australia 13-10, 11-8 but fell to Japan’s Tomoko Koyanagi 8-11, 5-11. The women’s doubles pair of Chew Yen-Ooi Sock Ai also failed in their bid to qualify for the main draw. Chew Yen-Sock Ai won the first game 15-12 but conceded defeat to Japan’s Honda Izumi-Miura Chihiro 4-15, 9-15. In the men’s singles, Malaysian Pei Wei Chung lost to Filipino Kennevic Asuncion 9-15, 3-15.
