Former international badminton player Koo Kien Keat believes that the Malaysian men’s doubles teams missed a valuable opportunity to win an international title at the Malaysia Open, held on home soil, by not taking advantage of the support from the home crowd. According to Kien Keat, who has won the home title three times with different partners, fans today are more supportive of the players, both in victory and defeat.
“The players should have seized the opportunity to perform well on home soil. The prize money is attractive and the fans are enthusiastic in supporting them, but unfortunately, they couldn’t deliver,” said Kien Keat. He added that when he was playing, there was more pressure to perform at home as fans would boo if the team was losing, but now the younger generation of fans is more supportive.
The Malaysian Open is one of the Badminton World Federation’s super 1000 tournaments, which offers the highest prize money on the world tour. The doubles champions will share a prize money of US$92,500 (RM401,000). Malaysia has not won the men’s doubles title since 2014, when Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong emerged as champions.
Kien Keat also hopes that the women’s doubles team Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah will be given the opportunity to achieve more before being considered a world-class pair. “They won the French Open but winning one title does not make them a world-class pair. It will only add pressure on them. They need to achieve more results,” he said.
Kien Keat is optimistic that the Malaysian doubles teams will perform better in upcoming events, starting with the Indian Open in New Delhi which begins tomorrow.
