Kien Keat-Boon Heong, the 2007 All-England champions, got off to a blistering start before having to stave off a rejuvenated challenge from Cai Yun-Haifeng in the second game.
But the Malaysians finally prevailed 21-11, 23-21 to set up a final date with Denmark’s Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen.
The Danes, chasing their maiden All-England title, were on top of their game too, overcoming a strong challenge from China’s Chai-Biao-Guo Zhengdong to prevail 26-24, 21-12 in the other semi-final.
It was truly a great day for Kien Keat-Boon Heong as the Malaysians have not beaten the Chinese pair since their win at the 2009 Sudirman Cup.
In fact, Cai Yun-Haifeng were the ones who dashed the Malaysians’ hopes of becoming the first world champions after beating them in the final of the World Championships in Paris last year.
On Friday, the fifth-seeded Kien Keat-Boon Heong choked in the second game but managed to get their act together to defeat Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 21-19, 23-25, 21-11 in a 49-minute quarter-final battle.
The win also made up for their loss to the Indonesians in the final of the Asian Games in Guangzhou last November. In fact, it was the Malaysians’ first win over the Indonesians since the 2009 SEA Games in Laos (team event).
Earlier, qualifiers Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How failed to make it a double joy for Malaysia when they went down fighting 19-21, 18-21 to top seeds Boe-Mogensen in the quarter-finals on Friday.
But Zakry-Thien How can walk tall, having redeemed their battered pride.
The duo had been struggling to form a solid partnership prior to the All-England but they justified themselves by beating seventh seeds Lee Sheng-mu-Fang Chieh-min of Taiwan and Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa en route to their top eight finish.
Courtesy of The Star
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