KUALA LUMPUR: The European swing has ended in a nightmare for men’s pair Goh Sze Fei–Nur Izzuddin Rumsani following their second-round exit at the Hylo Open today as it also struck a blow to their World Tour Finals (WTF) qualification.
The struggling world No. 4 Malaysians had hoped to turn around their fortunes in their last outing in Europe, but suffered a 21-9, 21-19 loss to Denmark’s world No. 26 Daniel Lundgaard–Mads Vestergaard in just 32 minutes.
The dismal result at Saarbrücken, Germany, came on the heels of Sze Fei–Izzuddin’s first-round exit at the Denmark Open and quarter-final defeat at the French Open over the last two weeks.
Last year, the independent pair were in terrific form when they captured the Arctic Open in Finland in October before finishing runners-up at the WTF in Hangzhou in December.
Now, Sze Fei–Izzuddin are in danger of missing out on the lucrative US$3 million (RM12.6 million) season finale on Dec 17–21, as they are currently placed seventh in the World Tour rankings.
Only the top eight pairs qualify, and a country is allowed a maximum of two pairs in the WTF, where world No. 2 Aaron Chia–Soh Wooi Yik have confirmed their spot (92,400 points).
World No. 5 Man Wei Chong–Tee Kai Wun, fifth in the World Tour standings with 79,600 points, are in a favourable position to earn a second WTF ticket for Malaysia, while Sze Fei–Izzuddin have only amassed 69,170 points.
A solid run at the Hylo Open for Sze Fei–Izzuddin would have opened up the race, but they will have to redouble their efforts at the Kumamoto Masters in Japan on Nov 11–16 and the Australian Open on Nov 18–23.
However, there was some cheer for Malaysia in the women’s doubles as world No. 14 Go Pei Kee-Teoh Mei Xing survived a scare before advancing to the quarter-finals with a 9-21 23-21, 24-22 win over Taiwan’s world No. 48 Teng Chun Hsun-Yang Chu Yun.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
