World Junior Champs Nelson And Teo Out To Break The Jinx

PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Nelson Heg Wei Keat-Teo Ee Yi (pic) are determined to break the hoodoo of being world junior champions.

None of the previous six Malaysian winning pairs have made the transition to senior ranks, but Wei Keat-Ee Yi believe they have the quality and the will to succeed where the others failed.

Gan Wye Teck-Chan Chong Ming (winners in 1996), Chan Chong Ming-Teo Kok Seng (1998), Hoon Thien How-Tan Boon Heong (2004), Mak Hee Chun-Teo Kok Siang (2008), Chooi Kah Ming-Ow Yao Han (2009) and Ow Yao Han-Yew Hong Kheng (2010) all failed to make the grade. It was either a case of fractured styles or fractured relationships. Either way, the partnerships never stood the test of time beyond the junior years .

Khe Wei Wants To Iimprove Consistency To Push For Olympic Spot

PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles pair Woon Khe Wei (pic)-Vivian Hoo have taken the badminton world by storm since their breakthrough semi-final appearance in the Thailand Open last May.

Khe Wei-Vivian, who are now the second ranked Malaysian pair, have since scaled greater heights, reaching the quarter-finals of the Vietnam Open and the semi-finals of the Taiwan Open before winning their first-ever title – the Indonesian Open GP Gold last October.

And they have, along the way, knocked out several top pairs, including world No. 8 Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii of Indonesia and China’s Cheng Shu-Pan Pan and Bao Yixin-Zhong Qianxin.

Khe Wei-Vivian also reached the semi-finals of the India Open GP Gold last week, before narrowly losing to top seeds and world No. 5 Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna of Japan.