Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, the current world No. 1 men’s doubles pair, need to quickly sharpen their game ahead of the Japan Open (July 15–20) and China Open (July 22–27) or risk being dethroned.
As defending champions of both tournaments, the independent duo are under pressure to retain their ranking by defending the vital points they earned last year.
Despite their strong start to the season with a title win at the India Open in January, the pair have since struggled to build momentum, having fallen short of the podium in recent outings. In fact, they’ve only managed to reach the quarter-final stage in each of their last four tournaments.
The upcoming Japan Open, a Super 750 event, offers 11,000 points to the champions, while the China Open — a coveted Super 1000 tournament — awards a massive 13,500 points to the winners.
Former national shuttler Datuk James Selvaraj weighed in, urging the pair to rediscover their rhythm.
“They need to recapture the form and focus they showed after leaving BAM,” said James in an interview with Timesport on Sunday.
“That’s their main problem now. They’ve got time to fine-tune their game before Japan and China, and they must make it count.
“Getting to world No. 1 is tough, but staying there takes even more effort. You don’t want to be top one week and drop to No. 2 or 3 the next.”
Currently sitting on 91,090 points, Sze Fei-Izzuddin face stiff competition from fellow Malaysians and former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, who have climbed to No. 2 with 89,870 points — a slim gap of just 1,220 points.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, the reigning Asian champions, are determined to surpass their teammates and seize the world No. 1 title for the first time — along with the honor of being Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair.
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