AS far as Choong Tan Fook is concerned, only a medal in the Beijing Olympics will compensate for the bitter disappointments he and partner Lee Wan Wah tasted in their two previous appearances in the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.

Tan Fook, 32, and Wan Wah, 33, lost the bronze medal playoff in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and despite going into the tournament as the World No 1, fell in the quarter-finals in Athens four years later.

However, Tan Fook is looking forward and the experience, he said, will be put to good use in their third consecutive Olympics.

Only Denmark's Jens Eriksen can claim to have appeared in four Olympics while Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Lars Paaske will be featuring in their third.

"Getting one opportunity to play in the Olympics is great but we are fortunate to get a third chance.
"We have failed twice but those bitter lessons will put us on the right path in our search for a medal in Beijing," said Tan Fook.

"Our failures were mainly because we were thinking too much on the high expectations and our potential opponents and this didn't help us focus on the actual task.

"We will keep it simple and just focus on our goal of returning with a medal.

"We have the experience, have played all the pairs before and know how it feels to compete in the Olympics.

"It is not easy for those pairs making their debuts and this will be to our advantage as long as we perform to our best ability."

World No 1 Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, South Korea's world No 2 Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae and Malaysia's Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (world No 5) will all be making their debuts.

Wan Wah also echoed Tan Fook's sentiments but chose to play down their chances.

However, Wan Wah admitted experience does play a major part as the pairs competing for the first time can be overawed by the occasion.