PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun are hungry for more after enjoying a breakthrough year.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun started the year in 14th spot in the world rankings but surged to No. 5 in the latest standings thanks to their greater consistency compared to previous years.
The duo captured their maiden World Tour Super 500 title in the Indonesian Masters in January and followed it up by beating world No. 2 teammates Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in a memorable final in the Malaysian Masters.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun also qualified for the prestigious World Tour Finals for the first time.
Although happy with his progress with Kai Wun, Wei Chong insists there is still room for improvement for the pair.
“Compared to the last two years, this year we have done quite well. We are happy that we could qualify for the Tour Finals for the first time,” said Wei Chong after a training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia in Bukit Kiara yesterday.
“There is still room for improvement though. We have lost in the first and second rounds a few times this year. We also lost to pairs ranked much lower than us. So, we have to learn from this and do better next year.
“We have only won two titles in two years. We know the competitions will only get tougher and we hope to fight for more titles next year.’’
Before this year, Wei Chong-Kai Wun’s only titles in the World Tour were the Super 300 Syed Modi International in 2022 and Taiwan Open in 2022 and 2023.
The duo did not win any titles in 2024 with their best showing that year a runners-up finish in the Indonesian Open.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun are hungry for more, starting with the Malaysian Open from Jan 6-11 at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
The pair reached the semi-finals in this year’s edition before losing to China’s Chen Boyang-Liu Yi.
“We reached the semi-finals this year and we hope to at least match our results or do better next week,” said Wei Chong.
“We only returned home about a week ago after competing in the Tour Finals and we are still not in our top condition yet.
“We have stepped up our intensity in training though and we want to perform our best.”
In the draw released yesterday, Wei Chong-Kai Wun face a tricky opening match against Denmark’s world No. 10 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
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