ALL ENGLAND 2011 QF – Koo & Tan avenge Asian Games defeat

Click on image to hear Koo Kien Keat talk exclusively to Badzine

Koo and Tan overcame a second game stutter on the TV court at the All England today as they fended off the challenge of Kido and Setiawan in 3 games to move into the semi-finals.

Article and interview by Mark Phelan (Live in Birmingham)

The first match on quarter-finals day at the all England was the mouth-watering men’s doubles clash between Koo Kien Keat / Tan Boon Heong and their old adversaries Markis Kido/ Hendra Setiawan.

Both pairs looked extremely nervous in the opening game and as a result, the number of service errors committed had the crowd gasping with disbelief. It was the Malaysians who settled quickest and took the first game 21-19.

The Malaysians took an early 11-4 lead in the second and forced Kido and Setiawan to start chasing the game and slowly the Indonesians came back into the game and amazingly tied it up at 12-12 and again at 14-14. The remainder of the game was certainly a cat and mouse affair with the Indonesian pair eventually closing it out 25-23.

Many would have forgiven Koo and Tan for folding at this point after appearing to be heading to an easy 2-game win, but the 2007 champions re-grouped and came out in the third game and blitzed their opponents to lead from start to finish to advance to the semi-finals with a 21-11 victory.

To hear Koo Kien Keat’s thoughts on his quarter-final match click on the image above or follow the link HERE

For all results CLICK HERE
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