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Thursday October 29, 2009

Fairuzizuan-Zakry get sweet revenge over Indonesian pair

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: World championship bronze medallists Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif avenged a defeat by young Indonesians Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukma-wan to advance to the men’s doubles second round of the French Open in Paris yesterday.

However, Malaysian veteran Wong Choon Hann suffered a second successive first-round defeat in a Super Series tournament when he lost 19-21, 17-21 to Hong Kong’s Hu Yun.

Choong Hann was eliminated in the opening round of the Denmark Open in Odense last week by German Marc Zwiebler.

Fairuzizuan-Zakry cleared the first-round hurdle in style, chalking up a 21-17, 21-16 win over the fast improving Indonesians in just 24 minutes.

Yonathan-Rian had snapped a three-match losing streak against the Malaysians in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open last month. And they went on to finish as the runners-up to compatriots and Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan.

The win yesterday for the fifth seeded Fairuzizuan-Zakry was a welcomed relief. They will play against Germans Michael Fuchs-Ingo Kindervater today with the winners getting a quarter-finals match probably against Markis-Hendra.

The top seeded Indonesians cleared their first-round hurdle in impression fashion, taking just 23 minutes to beat Kenta Kazuno-Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan 21-16, 21-11.

Malaysia’s doubles coach Rosman Razak said that it was a good confidence boost for Fairuzizuan-Zakry to beat Yonathan-Rian, who they will probably cross swords with in the Laos SEA Games in December.

“Our pair was in control from the start and led in both games. If they continue playing like

this, they have a good chance

to get past a match against Markis-Hendra,” he said from Paris.

The mixed doubles pair of Koo Kien Keat-Wong Pei Tty also advanced to the second round, beating England’s Nathan Robertson-Jenny Wallwork 21-11, 21-11.

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