Show of resilience
PETALING JAYA: Staying patient under a tough situation certainly paid dividends for men's doubles pair Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi at the Macau Open as they walked away with their maiden World Tour crown.
In a final marred by a leaking roof and constant court stoppages, Roy King-Arif pulled off a stunning 22-20, 21-18 win over Indonesia's world No. 8 Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza to end their title wait at the Macau East Asian Games Dome yesterday.
They braved slippery conditions and relentless delays to come through the test with flying colours.
And that brought much delight to the men's doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi.
'It was not a good game to watch as there were breaks after just one or two points to mop the floor due to the leaking,' said Herry.
'It definitely disrupted the flow of the game but I told Roy King-Arif to keep their focus and stay patient.
'It was a tough situation out there and I'm happy that our pair managed to get the win and grab their first title this year.'
Sabar-Moh started as the favourites but Roy King-Arif showed great determination and fighting spirit to come back from 18-20 to win the first game narrowly.
In the second game, the Malaysians again pulled off an impressive comeback from 9-13 to come away with the victory.
It was sweet revenge for Roy King-Arif after losing to Sabar-Moh in the Spain Masters final last year.
Ending their title drought in the World Tour comes as a huge relief and a timely boost for Roy King-Arif especially with the pair set to make their debuts in the World Championships from Aug 25-31 in Paris.
'Winning their first World Tour title will give Roy King-Arif more confidence heading into the world meet,' said Herry.
'This is a good achievement for them as their rankings also should go up and this will give them a better seeding in Paris.'
Roy King-Arif are expected to break into the world's top 20 when the official rankings list are released tomorrow.
The seedings for the world meet will be revealed on Friday while the draw will be out on Aug 13.
The other Malaysian men's doubles pairs, who have qualified for the prestigious meet are world No. 2 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, world No. 4 independent duo Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (No. 7).
Meanwhile, mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing could not crown their surprise run to the final in Macau with the title after going down 13-21, 16-21 to Denmark's Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje.
Jimmy-Pei Jing though can be proud of their efforts after making it into the title match in their maiden World Tour outing.
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