WORLDS 2011 QF – Koo and Tan choke again on nemeses

Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong lost for the 5th consecutive time to Ko and Yoo from Korea, missing out once again in their latest World Championship outing. No gold this time…

By Emzi Regala, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

The quarter-finals day opener at Wembley Arena on Friday showed Korea’s 2nd team Ko Sung Hyun / Yoo Yeon Seong (pictured left) sending home 2010 World Championships runners-up Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong (pictured below), who will thus go without a medal in 2011.  The Korean pair took 2 straight games 21-17, 21-13, booking themselves a ticket to the semis.

“Ever since before the first time we met them on court, we had watched their matches over and over again. We have their patterns and styles in our head and this helped a lot,” said Yoo after the match.

“My experience this summer partnering Lee Yong Dae was very good for me,” Ko added.  “We didn’t want to perform there in men’s double as we were there to focus on our mixed doubles, but it was good to play with Yong Dae, especially for me to get to play more at the net. I’ve improved in this area.”

On court 2 were featured the defending champions Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng  of China, who overpowered Denmark’s Mads Conrad-Petersen / Jonas Rasmussen through a very quick-finishing 21-10, 21-13 straight-game win with Fu, former holder of the world’s fastest smash, once again displaying his attacking prowess.

“We were prepared so we were not really surprised with how easy the match was. When you prepare well and you are on top of your game, you can beat any opponent,” remarked Cai Yun on their victory.

Denmark’s bad luck continued in the men’s doubles when Boe and Mogensen – Super Series Finals and All England champions and the world’s top pair until two months ago – went down to the formidable Muhammad Ahsan/ Bona Septano, saving 3 match points before wasting one and allowing the Indonesians to take it 18-21, 21-18, 24-22.

Jwala, Ashwini scoop at least bronze

In the women’s doubles discipline, India assured itself of a medal thanks to the comeback win by Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa (pictured) against the Indonesian pair of Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati, with the former taking the 2nd and 3rd games off the latter 17-21, 21-10, 21-17.

Indonesian missed another chance when Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari ran short of tactics against the stone wall defense of the Japanese pair Miyuki Maeda / Satoko Suetsuna. The Japanese proved that patience is indeed a virtue, ‘patiently’ taking 53 minutes to win 2 straight games, 21-15, 21-17, against the frustrated Indonesians, who couldn’t seem to put the shuttle down the opponent’s court.

All results HERE

Live Streaming HERE (geo-blocked for some countries)