Coach: Koo, Tan must play aggressive game
Posted on June 29, 2012, Friday
KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s doubles pair Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong are capable of getting a medal at the Olympic Games in London if they play an aggressive game, said their coach Pang Cheh Chang.
He said the performance of the duo showed an improvement at the Indonesian Open Super Series Premier Championship recently, proving they had the confidence to deal with the matches next month.
“They were on the attack at the Indonesia Open and were able to get to the semi-final. We see changes in their game but not as much as we expect.
“Currently, we stress more on attacking during training. We have a big chance of winning, if we do a lot of attacking,” he said during a lunch function with the media at Bukit Juara Stadium yesterday.
Pang said he also hoped the appearance of the duo, seeded sixth at the prestigious event, would bear fruit and he wanted them to be ready 100 per cent.
“In the men’s doubles, no one pair is dominant, and anybody can win. It depends on mood and maximum mental preparation on the days of the matches,” he said.
At the Olympics in London, Malaysia’s hopes for medals depend on three national mainstays, namely, Datuk Lee Chong Wei (men’s singles), Koo and Tan (men’s doubles) and mixed doubles players Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.
They are scheduled to depart to Bath University, United Kingdom on July 12 to undergo the final preparations before heading to London on July 23.
At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, Koo and Tan only managed to scrap to the quarter-final where they lost to Indonesian pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan.
Malaysia recorded history when former national men’s doubles pair, brothers Razif Sidek and Jalani Sidek, won the bronze in Barcelona in 1992 while Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock won the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. — Bernama
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