All systems go: Goh Sze Fei (left) and Nur Izzuddin Rumsani should be able to qualify for the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou in December. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani’s breakthrough victory in the China Open signals a promising future for their independent careers.
World No. 12 Sze Fei-Izzuddin decided to leave the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to turn independent early this month and in only their second tournament since then, the duo captured their first ever World Tour Super 1000 title.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin beat world No. 7 homesters He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu 13-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the final in Changzhou on Sunday, where Xiangyu was troubled with a lower back injury picked up in the opening game.
Former international Teo Kok Siang, who coaches Sze Fei-Izzuddin along with Rosman Razak, was pleased with his charges’ win and wants them to keep aiming high.
“First of all, hats off to Sze Fei-Izzuddin for winning their first Super 1000 title,” said Kok Siang.
“They handled the pressure well against Jiting-Xiangyu in the final in the latter’s home ground which is not easy.
“I hope they can remain humble, keep training hard and aim to become the best.”
If Sze Fei-Izzuddin can maintain their form, they could enjoy a successful professional journey and create healthy competition with the national pairs which will benefit the country.
The other pros under Rosman and Kok Siang are world No. 23 Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, who reached the semi-finals in China.
The BAM pairs in the top 20 now are Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (No. 5), Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 13) and Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian (No. 18).
Sze Fei-Izzuddin have been improving steadily this year and finished runners-up in the Asian Championships in April before winning their first Super 750 title in the Japan Open last month.
They are now almost assured of qualifying for the prestigious World Tour Finals from Dec 11-15 in Hangzhou for the first time.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin will compete in the back-to-back Arctic Open (Oct 8-13) in Finland and Denmark Open (Oct 15-20) in Odense.
