Main mission: Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King need to remain in the top 32 to make their debuts in the Malaysian Open.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi are out to qualify for the Malaysian Open for the first time next year.
The prestigious Malaysian tourney will be held from Jan 7-12 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Roy King-Arif are currently ranked No. 32 in the world and need to remain in the top 32 to make their debuts in the World Tour Super 1000 event.
“Qualifying for the Malaysian Open next year is definitely one of our goals,” said Arif.
“We have never managed to play in this tournament before and we hope we can move up the rankings to be assured of a spot.”
The pair, who were combined together last year, have showed signs of promise in their partnership so far but have not managed to break into the top 30 mainly due to injuries to Roy King.
The 23-year-old was forced to miss the back-to-back Japan and Korean Opens in August along with Arif due to a hamstring injury.
Roy King also suffered a knee injury at the end of last year that ruled him out for three months before he and Arif made their return in March.
The pair made their competitive return this time in the Hong Kong and China Opens last month but struggled to find their rhythm and suffered early round defeats to fellow Malaysians Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani respectively.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin had gone on to win the China Open title.
“I’m not satisfied with our performance in Hong Kong. We played badly against Wei Chong-Kai Wun,” said Arif.
“In China, we played better but missed the opportunity to win the second game against Sze Fei-Izzuddin despite leading.
“Perhaps we need some time to regain our tournament feel and rhythm as we had not played for a long time in competitions.
We also need to improve our speed and consistency. We want to try to win a title this year.”
Roy King-Arif came close to winning a title this year in the Spain Masters in March but had to settle for runners-up after losing to Indonesia’s Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza.
The youngsters also stunned several higher ranked pairs en route to reaching the semi-finals of the Malaysian Masters in May.
Roy King-Arif were the only homesters in the men’s doubles to reach the last four.
The pair will compete next in the back-to-back Arctic Open from Oct 8-13 in Finland and Denmark Open from Oct 15-20 in Odense.
