Early exit: Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in action during the first round against Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard of Denmark. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s doubles shuttler Goh Sze Fei does not want to read too much over his first-round exit with Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in the Malaysian Open.
Yesterday, Sze Fei-Izzuddin went down 15-21, 21-9, 18-21 to Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard of Denmark at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin entered the match as one of the favourites after a stellar season last year but fell short of expectations.
“I think we cannot control what others expect or think of us,” said Sze Fei.
“All we can do is focus on performing our best in tournaments.”
Last year, Sze Fei-Izzuddin had a remarkable run, clinching three titles at the Japan Open in August, China Open (September) and Arctic Open (October).
They also secured silver medals at the Asia Championships (April) and World Tour Finals (last month).
Sze Fei however praised Lundgaard-Vestergaard for their commendable win. Their record now stand at 1-1 as the Malaysian had beaten them at the Abu Dhabi Masters in 2023.
“We did our best but I think our opponents performed better,” said Sze Fei.
“We were also struggling with rotation during the match.”
The world No. 26 Danish have proven themselves as a formidable threat for Malaysia.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin are not their only Malaysian scalps as they have defeated world No. 21 Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri at the Indonesian Masters last January, outplayed Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (No. 24) at the Arctic Open in October, and stunned Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 14) at the China Masters in November.
The Danes also pushed world No. 6 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to the limit before narrowly losing at the Japan Masters last November.
Meanwhile, Aaron-Wooi Yik will open their campaign against United States’ world No. 37 Chen Zhi Yi-Presley Smith today.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi face a uphill battle as they go up against world No. 4 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia.
Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub are set to take on China’s world No. 40 Xie Hao Nan-Zeng Wei Han, while Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi will face South Koreans Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae.
