Koo: Worst performance of career

ALL ENGLAND champions Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong dished out a sloppy performance yesterday against Taiwan’s Tsai Chia Hsin-Hu Chung Hsien before managing a 18-21, 21-16, 21-10 win to make the men’s doubles final of the Asian Championships at Johor Baru City Stadium.

For the Malaysians, the 44-minute struggle was a rude awakening and their worst performance since winning the gold in the Asian Games last December.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong flirted with defeat until the Taiwanese started committing errors in the second game to spare them the embarrassment.

Kien Keat’s over confidence almost ruined the day for the Malaysian fans as the 22-year-old lost his focus and committed many unforced errors.
Kien Keat, usually reliable in crucial stages, chose the wrong moment to play to the crowd and this led to Chia Hsin-Chung Hsien capitalising on the situation. Boon Heong tried his best to unravel things, but Kien Keat’s erratic game led to the Malaysians looking vulnerable.

But Boon Heong managed to take control in the third game and this turned the tide their way.

An apologetic Kien Keat said: "This can be considered the worst performance of my career. I just lost focus.

"Maybe I was over confident. It’s a good experience for us. I was never under this kind of pressure situation before.

"I promise this will not happen again. My movement on court was so slow and I don’t understand what happened.

"Our target is to make sure that we don’t lose to a foreign pair. Now we have made it to the final. We are playing our teammates and anything can happen."

Boon Heong said: "I didn’t play well and probably my lack of warm-up led to it. We need to get our act right as Tan Fook-Wan Wah will not be easy to play."

An upset national doubles coach Rexy Mainaky took Kien Keat to task and told him to behave more professionally and respect the opponents.

"I’m unhappy with Kien Keat's performance and I’ve told him to forget about (winning) the World Championships or the Beijing Olympics if this is his attitude," said Rexy.

"Koo was over confident and it happened at the wrong time. We won the second game because the opponents made mistakes or else Kien Keat-Boon Heong would have packed their bags and headed home.

"Koo needs to be more professional and he must not look down on his opponents just because he has won big tournaments.

"Their training has also been disrupted by plenty of functions. I plead to everyone involved to spare the boys from these activities. Let's work together so that they can be focused on their Olympic target."

Tan Fook-Wan Wah, who had said that Kien Keat-Boon Heong are favourites, must be fancying their chances in the final after witnessing their struggle yesterday.