Malaysia's top-ranked Men's doubles pairing of Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong have not produced the right results in the recent past, but national doubles coach Jeremy Gan believes that the world number four duo will return to peak form before long.
V Shem and Wee Kiong let Malaysia down in the quarter-final tie of Sudirman Cup when they lost to lower-ranked Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 21-17, 16-21, 21-11 in the opening rubber. Notably, the Malaysian pair had lost to their Japanese counterparts in the group stages as well and failed to deliver when they had an opportunity to exact revenge.
The Rio Olympic silver medalists are suffering a title drought since their Dubai Superseries Final win last year. They have not gone past the quarter-final stages in any of the tournaments this season and also suffered early exits at Malaysia Superseries Premier and Badminton Asia Championships, losing their world number one tag in the process.
"It is true they [V Shem/Wee Kiong] did not play well at the Sudirman Cup. They are also struggling with consistency. There are several reasons for that. For a start, V Shem has been a little distracted with his wedding plans," Jeremy said, as quoted by The Star.
"And we have Wee Kiong struggling with a right knee injury. It swells when he pushes too hard during training and that restricts his movements. Still, they fought hard in Australia ... it is too early to give up on them.
"Shem-Wee Kiong are aware of their weaknesses and are working hard to get their act right. With enough time and the right support, I'm sure they will make a strong comeback at the world meet."
Notably, V Shem and Wee Kiong will start as fourth seeds at Indonesia Open later this month and a good performance there will give them a lot of confidence ahead of Glasgow World Championships in August.
