Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng tame Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong at Thomas Cup Finals 2012
China’s top seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng stamped their supremacy in the arena in front of their home fans when they tamed Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong in quarter-final showdown at the Thomas Cup Finals 2012 at Wuhan, China, on Wednesday, May
23.
Yun and Haifeng, who are ruling World Number One in Men’s Doubles category, showed their aggressive skills in the court and easily overwhelmed their lower ranked Malaysian opponents Kien Keat and Boon Heong who are ranked at number 8 in the world.
The higher ranked Chinese duo put up thrilling show and cheered their home fans by finishing up the battle in straight games in just 36 minutes.
On the other hand, Kien Keat and Boon Heong failed to live up to expectations as they could not cope up with the huge pressure while playing against the World Number One opponents and bowed down to them in straight sets without creating a strong impact.
In the first game, both sides opened their run in the court in an attacking and positive manner and also remained close at the initial stage.
However, Yun and Haifeng changed their strategy and started to push their rivals on the back foot by taking the bird early at the net.
They remained in commanding position and took the set with a 21-17 score on the board.
In the second game, the Malaysians remained ahead on the board until the end of opening half.
After the break, the Chinese shuttlers played aggressive badminton and managed to take over the control from their rivals. They remained on course and finished up the set with a margin of 21-18.
Yun and Haifeng won this battle with a 21-17 and 21-18 score on the board.
After the match Boon Heong said, “Kien Keat and I played well today but we did not have the patience to maintain our focus in the second game. We got into trouble in the second game after taking a good lead and this is where we need to improve.”
He further added, “We could have beaten them if we had stayed steady towards the end. The important thing is that we saw some improvements in our game.”
In the semi-final contest of this team-event championship, Chinese team will be up against Japanese shuttlers who defeated Indonesian opponents in the other quarter-final contest.
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