KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — National men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong failed to maintain their winning momentum after going down to Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa in the semifinal of the All England Championships at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, here yesterday.
V Shem-Wee Kiong lost in straight sets, 13-21, 15-21.
The duo had beaten Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong in the quarterfinals earlier to make it to the semis of the Premier Super Series tournament that offers US$550,000 (RM2.263 million) as total prize money.
The success of reaching the semi-final of the tournament for the first time was also a moral victory for V Shem-Wee Kiong, who had fought a fierce battle with world number 17 pair Kien Keat-Boon Heong, to win a ticket to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
This follows the fact that Malaysia can only expect one ticket for the double’s event, as both pairs are not in the top eight of the Badminton World Federation rankings.
According to the Olympic qualification system, a country can only send two double’s teams to the event if both were in the top eight before the qualifying deadline, which is on May 5. — Bernama
