# No doubles pair can count themselves as favourites
By Rizal Abdullah
Hours after returning from New Delhi coach Jeremy Gan and Malaysia’s No 1 men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong were on court at the Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam on Sunday afternoon for a training session.
The Malaysians reached the semi-finals in the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries in New Delhi on Saturday but failed to make their first ever SuperSeries final.
V Shem-Wee Kiong, ranked No 14 in the world, lost to Indonesia’s Gideon Markus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 15-21, 17-21. The Indonesian pair is ranked No 17.
Coach Jeremy Gan kept a sharp eye on his pair as they went through their paces – knowing a tough draw awaits V Shem-Wee Kiong in the USD550,000 Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open Superseries Premier which begins at the Malawati Stadium on Tuesday.
“We have a tough draw but from what I see these days no one pair can be counted as a favourite even if the pair is a top seed. This is the trend seen in tournament these days,” said Jeremy.
V Shem-Wee Kiong are drawn in the top of the draw with South Korean top seeds Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong. The Koreans open their campaign against Taiwan’s Lee Sheng-mu-Tsai Chia-hsin.
The Malaysians play another Taiwanese pair Chen Hung-ling-Wang Chi-lin in the first round and a win will see them cross path with Yong-dae-Yeon-seong in the second round.
“The second round match will plot our path on how far we can go in the Malaysian Open. If we can beat Yong-dae-Yeon-seong there is hope. Nothing is impossible.
“However, of late we see the favourites falling by the wayside. So anything can happen especially when the chase for Olympic points is coming to a close.
“It is tough playing back-to-back tournaments with all the top players competing and this has made things tougher.
“Of course there is hope but inconsistency has been also affected players. We did well in India but faltered at the crucial stage,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy hopes playing in front of the home fans could see the Commonwealth Games champions pull their way through with their confidence level at a high.
