Sze Fei-Izzuddin face friendly fire in Tokyo
As the Japan Open begins today in Tokyo, compatriots Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik seek to take the title away from defending champions Sze Fei-Izzuddin.
Ominously, world No. 2 Aaron-Wooi Yik appear fiery enough to stop world No.1 Sze Fei-Izzuddin.
Aaron-Wooi Yik are clearly on a hot streak — winning the Asian Championships, Thailand and Singapore Opens
At the other end, Sze Fei-Izzuddin have cooled down. They have not won on the World Tour since their India Open triumph in January.
BAM's Aaron-Wooi Yik (89,870 points) are snapping at independent pair Sze Fei-Izzuddin (91,090) in the world rankings.
Datuk Razif Sidek, who won the Japan Open in 1986 with Datuk Seri Jalani, believes an all-Malaysian final between the two pairs in the Super 750 event will provide a great image for Malaysian badminton.
"The Japan Open has assembled a world class field and it's definitely going to be an honour to see our pairs justify their top two rankings and set up an all-Malaysia final.
"Since all the top pairs are in Tokyo, it will be a quality win for either Sze Fei-Izzuddin or Aaron-Wooi Yik.
"Sze Fei-Izzuddin will have a double goal of defending the title and also safeguarding their No. 1 ranking, and Aaron-Wooi Yik will stand to gain if they falter.
"No matter what happens, it should be a success story for Malaysia as both pairs must battle it out to go all the way with several strong rivals from South Korea, China and Japan waiting to pounce.
"The Japan Open will also be a testing ground before the World Championships in August, and it will be good to see our pairs securing the title to boost their chances at the major event," said Razif.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin should sweep aside Canada's world No. 66 Kevin Lee-Ty Alexander Lindemann in the first round, but they are expected to face a tough obstacle against either Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen or China's Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi (world No. 11) in the semi-finals.
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who meet compatriots Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (world No. 30) in their opening round, have a tougher draw where they could face China's world No. 6 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang or 15th-ranked Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in the last eight.
It gets tougher as they could face either South Korea's world No. 3 Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae or Japan's world No. 16 Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi in the last four.
Having won the 2022 world title at the Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Aaron-Wooi Yik will be hoping for similar magic at the Japan Open this week.
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