<figure id="attachment_2938657" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2938657" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-2938657" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/7f78de60-sze-fei-nur-izzuddin-bernama-pic-151224-3.webp" alt="Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2938657" class="wp-caption-text">Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani created history as the first Malaysian men’s doubles pair to enter the final of the World Tour Finals since its inception six years ago. (Bernama pic)</figcaption></figure>
PETALING JAYA: National shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani gave their all in the men’s doubles final but it was not good enough to overcome Danish pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen at the World Tour Finals today.
The Malaysians were hoping to exact revenge after having lost to them in the opening group tie last week but they went down 17-21, 21-17, 11-21 in a match that lasted 65 minutes at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.
Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, who created history by being the first Malaysian men’s doubles pair to enter the Tour final since its inception in 2018, will take home the runners-up prize money of US$100,000 (RM445,000).
Commenting on their performance later, Sze Fei admitted that he and his partner couldn’t find the right strategy to overcome the Danes, who were runners-up at the 2023 World Championships .
Izzuddin praised the Danes, reigning European champions, for their superior tactics and patience in clinching the title at the season finale.
Sze Fei-Izzudin have put on an outstanding performance this year despite their loss to the world No 3 pair in this Super 1000 series.
“This season has been good for us, we’ve achieved things we’ve never done before and hope we can be better next year,” Izzuddin said in an audio recording released by the Badminton World Federation.
As runners-up in the World Tour double&#8217;s final, they earned 12,000 points which will leap them to No 3 in the BWF rankings from their current seventh position.
Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin had won the BWF Japan Open (Super 750), China (Super 1000) and Arctic Open (Super 500) championships. According to records, very few top pairs have achieved this.
The pair have earned about RM1.3 million from these tournaments and four others in the past four months.
Earlier today, national top mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei also missed out on a chance to capture the WTF 2024 title after a thrilling rubber-game loss to Olympic gold medallists Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong, 18-21, 21-14, 17-21, in a 75-minute battle.

MatchPoint Times

Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin fail in Tour final but can hold heads high

They lost to Danish pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the World Tour Finals, after beating all odds to enter the men’s doubles final.

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