KUALA LUMPUR: The emphasis on communication and trust has paid dividends for men's doubles Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun as they bounced back to topple South Korea's world champions Kang Min Hyuk-Seo Seung Jae to sail into the China Open quarter-finals today (Sept 19).
World No. 19 Wei Chong-Kai Wun's frequent discussions with national coaching director Rexy Mainaky and men's doubles coach Tan Bin Shen helped them to stem their inconsistency during the Super 1000 tournament in Changzhou.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun complemented each other well in the second round clash at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium where they secured a well-earned 21-18, 21-19 win in just 39 minutes.
Their second victory in five meetings also meant that Malaysia are assured of a men's doubles pair in the semi-finals as Wei Chong-Kai Wun will now play compatriots Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani in the last eight tomorrow (Sept 20).
Sze Fei-Rumsani, who became an independent pair only last month, overcame Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King 21-14, 25-23 in an all-Malaysia second round clash.
However, the story of the day was Wei Chong-Kai Wun's clinical performance that ended the Koreans' three consecutive finals on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) tour.
Min Hyuk-Seung Jae had finished runners-up at the Japan and Korea Opens before securing the Hong Kong Open title last week.
However, Wei Chong-Kai Wun were in no mood to concede defeat and secured their second victory in five meetings over Min Hyuk-Seung Jae to continue their march.
Kai Wun, 24, said the continuous discussions with their coaches have helped them to prove that their maiden win over Min Hyuk-Kai Wun in the opening round of the Indonesian Open in June was not a fluke. .
"Our communication is better and we have been discussing with our coaches to get our confidence back. We trust each other more, felt relaxed and managed to perform today," said Kai Wun.
"Very happy to make this comeback win. We play well but lose sometimes but today, we managed to play without pressure and play our own game."
Wei Chong, 25, was more diplomatic as he felt that reaching three consecutive finals could have taken a toll on the Koreans' physical condition.
"They have played back-to-back finals and maybe they have been a little tired. But we just played our best and were really excited with this win," said Wei Chong.
He said that their focus is on winning the next match, and it will be an interesting battle as the in-form Sze Fei-Izzuddin also won their first Super 750 title, the Japan Open, last month before becoming an independent pair.
There was further good news as another independent combination Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi also reached the last eight after beating Taiwan pair Lee Fang Chih-Lee Fang Jen 21-19, 21-14 in 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles World No 14 Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai and Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin advanced to the quarter-finals.
Independent pair Soon Huat-Shevon defeated Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand in just 28 minutes.
Pang Ron-Su Yin defeated Yap Roy King-Veleree Siow 21-9, 21-15 in an all-Malaysia second round clash.
It made up for an early exit by world No. 9 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei who lost 21-15, 13-21, 21-9 in 56 minutes to Indonesia's world No. 16 Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
Another professional combination Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also crashed out in the second round after losing 21-18, 21-18 to Denmark's Jesper Toft-Amalie Magelund.