Birdievents.com

Malaysia’s top pair of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong are not mentally strong enough to beat Korean players. 

“All our top three pairs are of almost equal standard. There is no special reason why the Koreans are able to beat this Malaysia pair so often ... it is all about practice, determination in training and adopting the right strategy.

“I have seen Koo and Tan play for some time and, I think, they are weak mentally, especially against the Koreans. The Malaysians played so well in the opening game but could not keep it up. It is in their heads.”

He may have a point as Kien Keat-Boon Heong have also found it difficult to beat South Korea’s two top pairs – Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung and Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong.

They have only won twice in 13 meetings against Yong-dae-Jae-sung and have never beaten Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in five meetings.

The Malaysians’ latest defeat by Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong came at the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Wembley in August.

A dejected Kien Keat, however, begged to differ. The 27-year-old felt that “our game has become too predictable and we are finding it hard to quickly recover when our opponents take healthy leads”.

“We get stuck during the crucial points. It is not that we fear the Koreans or that we do not have strong minds,” he said.

“We do ... but when we are left behind, we do not have ideas how to turn the game around.

“We know our weak points and I believe that we are at a transition stage of improving our game.

“We are confident we can overcome the Korean challenge in future. We just have to change our style.”

Kien Keat-Boon Heong will compete in the France Open in Paris next week before heading home to tinker with their style of play.

Malaysian national men's doubles chief coach Tan Kim Her wants Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong to keep faith in their attacking game in order to re-establish themselves among the world's top four pairs.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong have been set a target of reaching the semi-finals in the Denmark Open, which begins in Odense on Tuesday, and this means they must beat South Korea's Cho Gun Woo-Kwon Yi Goo, Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata of Japan and Denmark's Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen.

They are likely to meet World No 1 pair Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China in the last four.

The Malaysians lost to them at the same stage of the Japan Open last month.

Kim Her said Kien Keat-Boon Heong's coach Pang Cheh Chang has been given specific instructions and the pair have been working hard in training.

The biggest impact is the positive attitude of Kien Keat, who has been going that extra mile to iron out his weaknesses.

"Their main objective is to return to the world's top four and maintain the position as it is crucial to become one of the seeds for the London Olmpics. Only four pairs are seeded in the major event this time," Kim Her confirmed.

"We have set a semi-final target for them in the Denmark Open and there are some tough matches they must overcome.

"Relying on their attacking game is a way forward although Kien Keat-Boon Heong's defence is good.

However, it is very hard to win these days if they put too much emphasis on defence. They need to be aggressive and I have asked Cheh Chang to focus more on this.

"Kien Keat has had 30-minute individual sessions before training starts daily at 9.0am to rectify his weaknesses.

"They must return to the top four and must remain there to enhance their chances of winning a medal in London and every tournament is going to be important for them."

Kien Keat-Boon Heong, currently ranked World No 5, have a slightly easier draw in the French Open on Oct 25-30 where they will meet Ivan Sozonov-Vladimir Ivanov in the first round, and are likely to play Mads Condrad Petersen-Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark in the second, before an expected confrontation with Boe-Mogensen in the last eight.

If they survive, they will play South Korean dangermen Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae in the last four.

It will boost their ranking if they can reach the French Open semis as well but Kim Her and Cheh Chang will be happier if they can witness an aggressive performance from Kien Keat-Boon Heong.