11/13/2015

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Kien Keat believes players using All-England to impress their coaches

MANY of the mens doubles players, especially the second pairs, from the top badminton nations are set to use the
All-England tournament to seal their places for the Thomas Cup Finals in May.
National doubles ace Koo Kien Keat believes that the All-England would be an ideal platform for all the nations, who
will be competing in the Thomas Cup Finals at the Putra Stadium on May 9-16, to check on the progress and
performances of these probable second doubles pairs.
Except for Denmark, who will most likely rely on former champions Jonas Rasmussen-Lars Paaske as their second
doubles, the other countries have an option of fielding their back-up or scratch partnerships.
Some of them are here to impress their coaches and to win tickets for the Thomas Cup Finals ... so they will not be
holding back their punches, Kien Keat said after sweating it out at the National Indoor Arena here yesterday.
Kien Keat expects the tussles between the second doubles pairs in the Finals to be an open affair.
Basically, at first doubles, we know exactly who our opponents will be. They will be the usual suspects, he added
referring to Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (Chn), Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung (Kor), Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) and
Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den).
There could be some new faces at second doubles and this could make it quite intriguing.
Some may be playing for the first time in the team event and it will be interesting to see how they will cope with the
pressure.
China have the option of naming either reigning German Open champions Chai-Biao-Zhang Nan or Gua ZhengdongXu Chen; South Korea have several stars in the making Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong, Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol
and Cho Gun-woo-Kwon Yi-goo.
Indonesia may bank on either Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan or Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano while
Malaysia may name one or two from their seven back-up players Mak Hee Chun-Tan Wee Kiong, Hoon Thien HowOng Soon Hock, Lim Khim Wah-Chan Peng Soon and Goh Wei Shem.
In the All-England, Kien Keat and his partner Tan Boon Heong will get a chance to cross paths with several of these
second ranked pairs, namely Paaske-Rasmussen in the opening round and, most likely, Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in the
second round.

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