No good Olympic omen as men’s pairs go pear-shaped
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia can forget about having a maximum of two men’s doubles pairs at next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games based on their performances in the ongoing World Championships in Basel.
The men’s doubles shuttlers were a huge letdown again when their challenge was completely wiped out in the world meet following the exit of independent pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong in the third round on Thursday.
V Shem-Wee Kiong went down fighting 23-21, 11-21, 11-21 to Indonesia’s Fajar AlfianMuhammad Ardianto as the former’s poor record at the world meet continued.
Rio Olympic silver medallists V Shem-Wee Kiong have failed to reach the quarter-finals in all their last-four appearances.
V Shem-Wee Kiong, who defeated compatriots Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in the second round, were the sole Malaysian survivors in the third round.
Earlier, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik were beaten by Japan’s Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko in the second round while independent shuttlers Mohd Arif Abdul Latif-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub crashed out in the opening round.
With all four pairs eliminated, Malaysia have now gone without a medal in the event since Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong last won silver in Paris in 2010.
V Shem could not hide his disappointment after letting slip arguably the pair’s best chance to nail an elusive medal at the world meet.
Their chances were brighter after world No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia were sent packing in the second round by South Korea’s Choi Sol-gyu-Seo Seung-jae.
“We had a good chance,” lamented V Shem.
“After the elimination of Kevin and Marcus, we knew we stood a chance to go far. A semi-final finish was certainly within reach.
“We did give a good fight but it was not good enough. There’s no point dwelling on it, we have to move on.”
Wee Kiong chipped in: “No players want to lose, especially when we trained hard everyday with the aim of doing well. We’ll continue to work on our shortcomings.”
V Shem said they still had a chance to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
“We don’t have the luxury of time though, so we’ve to get ourselves back on track within the next two months, otherwise it will be difficult.”
Aaron-Wooi Yik are the bestranked Malaysian pair at No. 10, followed by V Shem-Wee Kiong (No. 14) and Yew Sin-Ee Yi (No. 20). A nation can have two pairs, provided both are placed in the top eight when the one-year qualifying period ends in April.