VICTOR Malaysia Masters: Surging Tan/Goh Rallies to Shake Off 6th Seeds - VICTOR Badminton

VICTOR Malaysia Masters: Surging Tan/Goh Rallies to Shake Off 6th Seeds

2016-01-21

Having banished a frustrating 2015 campaign into the background and capped off the year with Grand Prix success in Americas, home heroes Tan Wee Kiong and Goh V Shem came back from three game points down on late Wednesday evening to see off sixth seeds, China’s Liu/Qiu in the first round of the VICTOR FAR EAST Malaysia Masters (Grand Prix Gold).

Tan Wee Kiong is usually constructing the points on the front court.

The young partnership of Tan and Goh officially joined Team VICTOR in March and won a silver medal straight away in Basel’s Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, fueling their hope to make the top 10 together. They went on to upset the world no.1 Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong in the Sudirman Cup in May to help Malaysia return to the quarterfinals. However, after countless close defeats, the duo, who is tipped as Malaysia’s biggest Olympic medal hope alongside Lee Chong Wei, hasn’t really lived up to the expectations. They decided to make a special change, a name change.

Tan and Goh both changed their mandarin names before they were off to the Americas in their final duties of the 2015 season. Wherever your superstition lies, here’s the fact; they took their first tour title of the year in Orange, followed by a bronze-medal showing in Mexico City, putting their team ranking back on the verge of the top 10.

Riding the wave of confidence, Tan and Goh pulled off a gritty comeback win in their season opener at the VICTOR FAR EAST Malaysia Masters on Wednesday, where they outgunned China’s Liu/Qiu 22-20, 21-16, having trailed 14-19 and 17-20 in the first game.

Should the Malaysians continue their 2016 as it started, reaching top 10 won’t be much of a fight. A proud finish at the Olympic Games in Rio is now what they look at. WATCH TAN & GOH OPEN UP ON OLYMPIC DREAMS IN “THE VICTOR TOUR: EXPEDITION”