Arctic Open: Set Complete, Quest Continues
It’s been an unforgettable eight weeks for Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin, currently the world’s most in-form men’s pair.
· PREM KUMAR
It is during this period that they won their first Super 750 (Japan Open), Super 1000 (China Open) and Super 500 (CLASH ROYALE Arctic Open 2024) titles, thus completing the HSBC BWF World Tour set having also bagged two Super 300 crowns previously.
Since the World Tour came into being in 2018, only four men’s pairs have pulled this off – twice Olympic gold medallists Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and incidentally, Goh/Izzuddin’s vanquished final opponents on Sunday in Vantaa, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. In fact, no player or pair from Malaysia, a nation with stellar badminton achievements, have accomplished this feat before Goh and Izzuddin.
Despite this, the duo promised not to rest on their laurels.