KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — National doubles player Goh Sze Fei is almost certain of being paired up with mixed doubles shuttler Choong Hon Jian, according to coach Rexy Mainaky.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) doubles coaching director said he would get national mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto’s blessing on this matter.
“I dare say the Sze Fei-Hon Jian combination is 80 to 90 per cent confirmed.
“I will contact Nova and ask him whether Hon Jian is prepared to play two events or not. But based on the views of (coaches) Tan Bin Shen and Hoon Thien How, they can be paired up,” he told reporters after a training session here today.
Rexy said since Sze Fei had been acting as a “playmaker” on court, he needed hard-hitters like Hon Jian to replace Nur Izzuddin Rumsani as his partner.
The Indonesian doubles specialist said Sze Fei-Hon Jian had even beaten national pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in a recent training session.
Hon Jian previously played men’s doubles with Wei Chong and mixed doubles player Chen Tang Jie.
However, Rexy remained tight-lipped about the new partner for Nur Izzuddin, saying he would be meeting with Nur Izzuddin and his new partner on Monday.
He gave an assurance that Wei Chong-Kai Wun would not be split to give Nur Izzuddin a new partner.
“I promise that this Tuesday I will announce the new pairings (for Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin),” he added.
Last week Rexy confirmed that Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin had expressed their desire to split after having been together since 2016.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles player M. Thinaah said she and Pearly Tan were in the process of rebuilding their momentum despite qualifying for the semi-finals of their last two tournaments, the India Open and Indonesian Masters last month.
“We are slowly getting there but I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement in terms of combination, game play and communication,” she said.
The top national pair lost 14-21, 16-21 to Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in the India Open and were ousted by another Japanese pair, Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota, 21-14, 21-19 in the Indonesian Masters.
Although satisfied with their current world ranking of five, Pearly said they would continue to work hard to do better in future.
— Bernama
