Badminton Association of Malaysia - Rexy puts his money on Kien Keat-Boon Heong

			Tuesday, 07 September 2010

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Rexy puts his money on Kien Keat-Boon Heong

Sunday, 07 March 2010

By K.M. Boopathy

NATIONAL doubles coach Rexy Mainaky has made his prediction -- Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong will win the All England men's doubles title.

The centennial edition of the event begins on Tuesday and Rexy feels that Kien Keat-Boon Heong are overdue for a major title.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong were at the top of their game when they won the All England at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham in 2007 but haven't managed to display such performance since.

The world's best will be in Birmingham but Rexy feels his top pair can go on and win the title a second time.

They play experienced Danes Jonas Rasmussen-Lars Paaske in the first round followed by a possible meeting with South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun-Yoo Yeon Seong in the second round and China's Zhang Nan-Chai Biao in the last eight.

"They have had good preparation and I would say they are playing the way a top pair should. I am optimistic they have the ability to nail a second All England crown," said Rexy.

"They are quite relaxed yet focused in training and serious during match plays. We saw that losing concentration in the second game had cropped up during the Malaysia Open but I believe they have overcome this.

"Kien Keat-Boon Heong know that it is very hard to make a comeback against top pairs if they don't keep up the momentum.

"We have discussed strategies when playing against potential rivals and even Tan Kim Her gave his input on how to handle the Korean pair.

"A win will make them feel they are truly the No 1 pair and the positive effect will help them perform well in the coming major events."

Kien Keat-Boon Heong won their first tournament -- the Malaysia Open in January -- but most of their main rivals, including Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, skipped the Super Series event.

Markis-Hendra are likely to be Kien Keat-Boon Heong's semi-final opponents but Rexy said the Indonesia pair are not at their best at the moment.

"Hendra was down with dengue fever and only recovered a couple of weeks ago and will be short on preparation. They are not the threats. If Kien Keat-Boon Heong can clear the preliminary rounds, they can go all the way," added Rexy.

The national shuttlers left for Birmingham last night.

Courtesy of New Straits Times