Fading Away No More
The graph of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin’s partnership since reuniting has only gone one way – up.
· PREM KUMAR
On Sunday at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, the Malaysians finished second to newly-crowned world No.1s Kim Astrup/Ander Skaarup Rasmussen. It marked the culmination of an extraordinary season that included an eight-week run beginning August, during which they secured their first Super 750 (Japan Open), Super 1000 (China Open) and Super 500 (Arctic Open) titles.
Having already claimed two Super 300 crowns earlier, the duo became the first shuttlers from their country to complete the full set of HSBC BWF World Tour titles. Reaching a career-best world No.3 on Tuesday, they are now Malaysia’s highest-ranked men’s pair.
“To be honest, this has exceeded our expectations,” said Goh after the 17-21 21-17 11-21 final loss to the Danes. “We are grateful and appreciate what our team has done for us. Without them, and without the supporters, we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off.”