| Koo Kien Keat |
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Koo Kien Keat |
| Personal information |
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| Country |
 Malaysia |
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| Born |
(1985-09-18) 18 September 1985
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia |
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| Height |
1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] |
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| Weight |
75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st)[2] |
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| Handedness |
Right |
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| Coach |
Rexy Mainaky (2005–2011) Pang Cheh Chang (2011–2014) Lee Wan Wah (2015–present) |
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| Men's doubles |
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| Highest ranking |
1 (11 October 2007) |
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BWF profile |
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Updated on 10:50, 26 October 2013 (UTC). |
Koo Kien Keat (born 18 September 1985 in Ipoh, Perak) is a professional badminton player from Malaysia. Besides being a men's doubles player, he has also represented Malaysia in the mixed doubles event. He started his career at 17 years of age and is a former Asian Junior champion. He played in the 2004 Thomas Cup with Chew Choon Eng. They gave a strong performance during the second doubles match against Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian of Indonesia in the quarter final round. However, after the tournament, the Badminton Association of Malaysia decided to partner him with Chan Chong Ming who previously partnered with Chew Choon Eng. Later, they won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships. His most recent official doubles partner was Tan Boon Heong. The two won the bronze and silver medal at the 2009 and 2010 World Championships. With Tan, Koo competed at the 2008 Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals, and the 2012 Olympics, reaching the semi-finals, and losing 2 - 0 in the bronze medal match.[3][4] The year 2010 was the last time Koo and Tan ranked No.1 worldwide but they managed to remain in the top 5 until 2013.
Due to early round exits in 2013 and a four-year title drought, Koo parted with the Badminton Association of Malaysia and became a coach for the Granular Club of Thailand in early 2014. In August that year, Koo returned to play his last tournament with Tan at the 2014 BWF World Championships. Their last match together was in the third round where they lost to a Chinese Taipei pair with a score of 19-21 in the deciding game.
In 2015 Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong announced that they are coming out of retirement. Koo said that he still has love for badminton and both him and Tan both wanted to play together as a pair again and try to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics before they call it quits for good. They are currently sponsored by Seri Mutiara Development Sdn Bhd They have achieved some breakthroughs this year. Winning the Russian Open, Yonex Dutch Open and finishing runners up in the Thailand Open. They have also made it to 2 supersedes quarterfinals in Australia and Korea. The pair have been playing very well and the pair say that they are just enjoying their game playing with no pressure.
Education
He began his studies at St. Michael's Institution in Ipoh, Perak. Later, he received an offer to go to Bukit Jalil Sports School, where he completed his secondary school studies and sat for the SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examination.
Style of play
Koo Kien Keat moves very fast around the net areas and is adventurous with deceptive shots. He also reacts very well on fast flat exchanges. A favourite formation is when he is on the front court and his partner, the main smasher, attacks from the rear of the court with powerful, left-handed smashes.
Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong are an explosive and dynamic pair in their game style.
In 2010, they won their first title of the year in their home, Malaysia, as the world number 1 pair. They came in seeded number 1 in the All England but lost in the first round to Denmark former world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Ramussen.
In the 2010 BWF World Championships they beat the young Chinese pair of Chai Biao & Zhang Nan in the quarter-finals and later their arch rivals, the South Koreans Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae, in 3 sets to reach the semi-finals. After that, they beat another Chinese pair of Guo Zhen Dong & Xu Chen to reach their first ever finals in world championship. The only other Malaysian pair to reach that far before them were Yap Kim Hock and Cheah Soon Kit.
Achievements
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
References
External links
World rankings: Top ten badminton players as of March 17, 2016 |
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