Fairuzizuan-Zakry’s world top four hopes dashed
Posted by valsus on March 13, 2009
PETALING JAYA: The hopes of men’s doubles pair Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif to break into the top four of the world rankings were dashed with a first-round exit in the Swiss Open in Basel on Wednesday.
The current world No. 5 had only themselves to blame for throwing away a chance to beat Shuichi Sakamoto-Shintaro Ikeda. The fourth seeded Malaysians won the first game 21-14 but the Japanese came back to carved out a 21-19, 21-9 win in 52 minutes.
Sakamoto-Ikeda, who were bronze medallists in the 2007 World Championships, will play against England’s Robert Blair-Chris Adcock for a place in the quarter-finals.
Fairuzizuan-Zakry, who were semi-finalists at the Swiss Open last year, look set to tumble out of the top five bracket as they have no more tournaments to look forward to for the next few weeks to rake in world ranking points.
The pair, who bowed out in the quarter-finals of the All-England in Birmingham last week, will not feature in the India Open at the end of the month and Asian Championships in South Korea early next month.
Their performance against the Japanese in Basel, especially the inept display in the rubber game, did not go down well with national doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky.
“They were leading halfway through the second game but lost their focus after that to allow their opponents to pick up easy points,” said Rexy.
“The problem with this pair is their difficulty to get back in once their opponents break their rhythm. They start to lose confidence and throw away points.”
Rexy added that he would get to the root of what is troubling his charges when they return home.
“Fairuz is playing well in the mixed doubles and I don’t understand why his (Men’s doubles) combination (with Zakry) is not working out well,” he said.
