Malaysia men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin marked their reunion with a straight-game victory in the US Open first round.
Despite looking a little rusty after not playing together competitively for almost six months, they were not too troubled against Mexicans Job Castillo-Luis Armando and came away with a 21-16, 21-13 victory on Tuesday.
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Bigger tests await the third seeds in the Super 300 event taking place at Council Bluffs, with a second-round tie against Americans Chen Zhi Yi-Presley Smith looming next.
National doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky is hoping Goh-Izzuddin would be able to go the distance in the United States.
“We hope they can perform well enough to become champions and improve on their ranking to enter the top 30. They have tried other partners after splitting and realized it did not work. We hope they will work hard to find their chemistry again,” said Rexy.
The 2022 German Open champions split in January after they suffered a spate of poor results and wanted to pair up with other partners.
This resulted in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) having their work cut out as they scrambled to find new partners for both shuttlers.
Goh was paired with Choong Hon Jian, while Izzuddin teamed up with Haikal Nazri.
Even though they made the final in their first tournament with their respective new partners, it came in lower-tier events and the new combinations began to struggle after that.
An intervention by BAM president Norza Zakaria ensured the now world number 53 pair were reunited last month.
Should Goh-Izzuddin realise Rexy’ hopes of winning the US Open, they would end Malaysia’s 31-year drought for a title in the men’s doubles, last won by Cheah Soon Kit-Soo Beng Kiang in 1992.
After this tournament, Goh-Izzuddin are scheduled to compete in South Korea and Japan later this month.
