Kim Her still has faith in Kien Keat-boon Heong

PETALING JAYA: National doubles head coach Tan Kim Her has given beleaguered Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong a vote of confidence despite the pair’s latest slide down the world rankings.

Kien Keat-boon Heong are now ranked No. 8 in the world – their worst in the past two years – after falling in the second round of the All-england to China’s Hong Wei-shen Ye in controversial fashion.

It is a new low for the once mighty pair, who have only just begun to show a return to form after a dismal year.

A new training regime seemed to have had a positive effect on Kien Keat-boon Heong, who did well to help Malaysia qualify for the Thomas Cup Finals by beating South Korea’s Ko Sung-hyun-yoo Yeon-seong in a crucial group match.

But the failure of the pair, All-england runnersup last year, to reach the final in Birmingham two weeks ago resulted in the fall in the rankings.

Kim Her, however, firmly believes that the pair are getting back to their best and rankings will not matter much anymore.

A country can have two pairs in the Olympics if both are ranked in the top eight but only the top four will be seeded.

As it stands, Kien Keat-boon Heong have virtually no chance to break into the top four and are resigned to playing one of these pairs – Cai Yun-fu Haifeng (China), Jung Jae-sung-lee Yong-dae, Sung-hyun-yeon-seong (South Korea) and Mathias Boe-carsten Morgensen (Denmark) – in the Olympics.

“I knew early in the year that their ranking would not matter for the Olympics as only the top four pairs are seeded and Kien Keat-boon Heong were not going be among them,” said Kim Her.

“The rest will be drawn randomly so it doesn’t really matter that they’re now No. 8 as they still have to play one of the top four.

“Right now, the main threats are Cai Yun-fu Haifeng and the two Korean pairs, in particular Jaesung-yong-dae, who were fantastic in their AllEngland triumph.

“I am training Kien Keat-boon Heong to mentally picture themselves competing against one of the top four during training. Hopefully, this will help them gain a mental edge when it comes to the Olympics.

“But it is imperative that they don’t slide any further in the rankings because that will mean being unseeded for other tournaments.”

Kien Keat-boon Heong’s next assignment will be the India Open from April 24-29, the last tournament before the Olympic qualifying period ends.