Badminton: Our shuttlers get chance to boost rankings in absence of top pairs at Thailand Open

PETALING JAYA: The Thailand Open is a rare occasion that only four of the top 15 pairs will be competing in the men’s doubles and this bodes well for rising pairs Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King in Bangkok.

The focus of the top pairs have shifted to their preparation towards the 2024 Paris Olympics from July 27-Aug 5 and this include Malaysia who have rested world No. 4 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik from the tournament.

In Bangkok, only world No. 3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty of India and world No. 9 Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana of Indonesia are the top two combinations in the men’s doubles draw while China’s He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (No. 11) and Indonesians Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin (No. 13) are the third and fourth seeds respectively.

Danger ahead: Choong Hon Jian (right) and Mohd Haikal Nazri must tread with caution against veteran South Korean pair Kim Gi-jung-Kim Sa-rang in the first round.

National coaching director Rexy Mainaky has urged world No. 28 Hon Jian-Haikal and world No. 54 Arif-Roy King to seize the initiative to boost their world rankings further.

“Only two top 10 pairs are playing in Thailand. They must take this chance to achieve better results and also improve their world rankings,” said Rexy.

“However, they must avoid having very high and unrealistic expectations and avoid playing with pressure.”

Both pairs have a fighting chance to reach the last eight in the super 500 Thailand Open.

World No. 28 Hon Jian-Haikal were the reserves at the Thomas Cup final rounds in Chengdu last week and had also won the super 300 Orleans Open in Paris in March.

Hon Jian-Haikal must tread with caution against veteran South Korean pair Kim Gi-jung-Kim Sa-rang in the first round before an expected clash with Shohibul-Bagas in the second round.

Should the Malaysian pair upset the odds, they could be playing Indonesian veterans Hendra Setiawan-Mohammad Ahsan in the last eight.

Arif-Roy King, the world No. 54, finished runners-up at the Spain Masters in March, also have a tough first-round clash against Taiwan danger men Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han in their opening match and could meet Satwiksairaj-Chirag in the quarters.

The three Malaysian pairs in the top 20 – Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (No. 14), Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (No. 15) and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 20) have skipped the Thailand Open (May 14-19) to focus on the Malaysian Masters from May 21-25.

Malaysian Masters should give the local pairs a chance to shine as world No. 5 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark are the only top 10 pair competing other than Aaron-Wooi Yik.