Let’s rock the World
Kian Meng believes he and Pei Jing can cause a big upset in Glasgow
KUALA LUMPUR: Mixed doubles shuttler Tan Kian Meng does not want to return from the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, with regrets.
“It’s my first world meet and I want it to be a good outing,” said the 23-year-old.
The world meet starts on Monday and world No. 10 Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing are seeded eighth.
Kian Meng also reckons they can cause a big upset “despite there being several good pairs”.
“I’m more excited than nervous about my first world meet because Pei Jing and I have come far this year,” said Kian Meng.
“We’ve worked hard and have had some good results. This is our first time on the big stage and we want to show that we deserve to be up there among the best in the world.”
The top seeds in the mixed doubles are China’s Zheng Siwei-Chen Qingchen.
The six other seeded pairs are China’s Lu Kai- Huang Yaqiong ( 2nd), Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir (3rd), China’s Zhang Nan-Li Yinhui (4th), England’s Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock (5th) and Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (6th).
Kian Meng-Pei Jing have a first-round bye and will take on the winners of the match between Indonesians Irfan Fadhilah-Weni Anggraini and France’s Ronan Labar-Audrey Fontaine in the second round.
Then, a tricky third-round clash against 13th seeds Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping of China awaits the Malaysians.
Barring any upsets, they should face 2013 world champions Tontowi-Lilyana in the quarter-finals.
The Malaysians beat reigning Indonesian Open champions Tontowi-Lilyana in the first round of the Australian Open in June.
“I was just a singles player two years ago. Now, I’ll be playing in my first world meet in mixed doubles,” said Kian Meng.
Malaysia have won only one mixed doubles medal in the world meet since its inception in 1977 through Koo Kien Keat-Wong Pei Tty (bronze) at the 2006 Madrid edition.